bokeh

Where does the word "bokeh" come from? It comes from Japanese boke, and was adopted directly into English (1990s).

Bokeh’s story begins in Japanese: boke meant “blur, haze.” Literally blur or haze, describing the soft out-of-focus quality of a photograph. It reached English by 1990s as bokeh. Popularized by a 1997 article in Photo Techniques magazine, which added the 'h' to guide pronunciation. Today, bokeh means the pleasing visual quality of out-of-focus areas in a photograph.

1. Stage 1 · Japanese · modern boke "blur, haze", literally blur or haze, describing the soft out-of-focus quality of a photograph.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1990s bokeh "the aesthetic quality of blurred background light in a photo", popularized by a 1997 article in Photo Techniques magazine, which added the 'h' to guide pronunciation.