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Shakuhachi

2 stages from Japanese to English.

Today it means a traditional Japanese end-blown bamboo flute

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

shakuhachi→shakuhachi

Japanese · medieval

"a bamboo end-blown flute"

named for its standard length, one shaku eight sun, a bamboo end-blown flute

English · 1800s-1900s

"a traditional Japanese bamboo flute"

borrowed by musicologists and later world-music enthusiasts

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