cosplay

Where does the word "cosplay" come from? It comes from English costume play, passing through Japanese before entering English (1990s-2000s).

Cosplay’s story begins in English: costume play meant “dressing up in costume for fun.” The phrase described dressing up as characters at parties and masquerades. By 1984, the word had taken hold in Japanese as kosupure. Clipped and blended into a single word by a Japanese journalist covering an LA sci-fi convention. It reached English by 1990s-2000s as cosplay. Re-imported into English through anime and manga fan culture. Today, cosplay means the hobby of dressing up and often performing as a specific fictional or pop-culture character.

1. Stage 1 · English · early 1900s costume play "dressing up in costume for fun", the phrase described dressing up as characters at parties and masquerades.
2. Stage 2 · Japanese · 1984 kosupure "dressing as a fictional character", clipped and blended into a single word by a Japanese journalist covering an LA sci-fi convention.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1990s-2000s cosplay "dressing as a character from fiction for fun or performance", re-imported into English through anime and manga fan culture.