origami

Where does the word "origami" come from? It comes from Japanese ori + kami, and was adopted directly into English (1900s).

Origami’s story begins in Japanese: ori + kami meant “paper folding.” Combined "ori" (fold) and "kami" (paper). It reached English by 1900s as origami. Japanese 'folding paper'; Akira Yoshizawa's diagrams spread it worldwide in the 1950s. Today, origami means the traditional Japanese art of folding paper into decorative shapes.

1. Stage 1 · Japanese · medieval ori + kami "paper folding", combined "ori" (fold) and "kami" (paper).
2. Stage 2 · English · 1900s origami "the art of paper folding", Japanese 'folding paper'; Akira Yoshizawa's diagrams spread it worldwide in the 1950s.