shinkansen

Where does the word "shinkansen" come from? It comes from Japanese shinkansen, and was adopted directly into English (1960s-1970s).

Shinkansen’s story begins in Japanese: shinkansen meant “Japan's high-speed rail network.” Literally 'new trunk line', naming the newly built high-speed railway debuted for the Tokyo Olympics. It reached English by 1960s-1970s as shinkansen. Japanese 'new trunk line'; the Tokaido Shinkansen opened for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Today, shinkansen means japan's high-speed railway network, popularly known as the bullet train.

1. Stage 1 · Japanese · 1964 shinkansen "Japan's high-speed rail network", literally 'new trunk line', naming the newly built high-speed railway debuted for the Tokyo Olympics.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1960s-1970s shinkansen "Japan's high-speed rail system, or a train on it", Japanese 'new trunk line'; the Tokaido Shinkansen opened for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.