panko

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

Panko’s story begins in Japanese: panko meant “coarse breadcrumbs.” Literally bread flour, coarse breadcrumbs used for a crisp coating. It reached English by 1990s as panko. Japanese 'pan', bread, from Portuguese 'pão', plus 'ko', flour. Today, panko means coarse, light breadcrumbs used for a crisp fried coating.

1. Stage 1 · Japanese · modern panko "coarse breadcrumbs", literally bread flour, coarse breadcrumbs used for a crisp coating.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1990s panko "coarse, light Japanese-style breadcrumbs", Japanese 'pan', bread, from Portuguese 'pão', plus 'ko', flour.