外来語

• 読み: がいらいご
• ローマ字: gairaigo
• 漢字の分解: 外 (gai) — outside, foreign; 来 (rai) — come, arrive; 語 (go) — word, language
• 発音: /ɡai.ɾai.ɡo/

意味

Loanword; borrowed word; a word adopted into Japanese from a foreign language, typically written in katakana.

A noun that refers specifically to foreign-origin words absorbed into Japanese vocabulary, most commonly from English but also from Portuguese, Dutch, German, and French. 外来語 are distinguished from 和語 (native Japanese words) and 漢語 (Sino-Japanese words). The study of 外来語 is central to understanding how Japanese lexicon has evolved, especially since the Meiji era.

例文

1. 日本語には英語由来の外来語が数多く存在する。
2. 外来語をカタカナで表記するのは日本語の特徴の一つだ。
3. 近年、外来語の使用が増え、若者言葉に浸透してきている。

使い方ガイド

場面: linguistics, language education, lexicology

トーン: neutral

起源と歴史

Native Japanese compound. 外来 means 'coming from outside/abroad' and 語 means 'word/language'. The term became widely used as Japan rapidly absorbed Western vocabulary from the Meiji period onwards.

文化的背景

時代: Meiji–Modern

世代: All ages

社会的背景: Universal