kanban

Where does the word "kanban" come from? It comes from Japanese kanban, and was adopted directly into English (1970s-1980s).

Kanban’s story begins in Japanese: kanban meant “a signboard or placard.” Originally meant an ordinary shop signboard. It reached English by 1970s-1980s as kanban. Adopted with Toyota's inventory-card production system, named for the physical cards used. Today, kanban means a visual workflow-management method using cards or boards to track tasks.

1. Stage 1 · Japanese · medieval kanban "a signboard or placard", originally meant an ordinary shop signboard.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1970s-1980s kanban "a scheduling system using visual cards to signal workflow", adopted with Toyota's inventory-card production system, named for the physical cards used.