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Katakana

2 stages from Japanese to English.

Today it means one of the two phonetic syllabaries used in Japanese writing, used chiefly for foreign loanwords

Where does the word "katakana" come from? It comes from Japanese katakana, adopted directly into English (1800s-1900s).

katakana→katakana

Japanese · 9th century

"an angular phonetic syllabary"

developed as an angular phonetic script derived from fragments of Chinese characters

English · 1800s-1900s

"the angular Japanese phonetic writing system, used mainly for foreign words"

borrowed by linguists and Japanese-language textbooks

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