サラリーマン

Japanese

Etymology

First cited to 1924.[1]

Although often described as wasei eigo (和製英語), this appears to derive from English phrase salaried man,[1][2][3] which appears in print at least as early as 1828.

The resulting Japanese term was then re-imported into English.

Analyzable as サラリー (sararī) +‎ マン (-man).

Pronunciation

  • (Tokyo) ラリーマン [sàráríꜜìmàǹ] (Nakadaka – [3])[3]
  • IPA(key): [sa̠ɾa̠ɾʲiːmã̠ɴ]

Noun

サラリーマン • (sararīman

  1. a salaryman (male office worker)

Alternative forms

Descendants

  • English: salaryman
  • Korean: 샐러리맨 (saelleorimaen)

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (1995), 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  3. 3.0 3.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Further reading