Japan

See also: japan, japán, and Japán

English

Alternative forms

Giapan (obsolete)
Japonia (obsolete)

Etymology

From Dutch Japan or Portuguese Japão, from Malay Jepang, from Sinitic 日本 (Rìběn), likely from an earlier stage of modern Cantonese 日本 (jat⁶ bun²) or Min Nan 日本 (ji̍t-pún) (in turn from Middle Chinese 日本 (nyit-pwón), potentially from older Old Chinese 日本 (*nit-pˁənʔ) but unattested in Old Chinese-era literature). Compare also Mandarin 日本 (Rìběn), Japanese 日本 (Nihon, Nippon), Korean 일본 (Ilbon), Vietnamese Nhật Bản.

The earliest form of “Japan” in Europe was Marco Polo's Cipangu, the first recorded form in English was in a letter dated February 19, 1565 (published 1577), spelt “Giapan”: Of the Ilande of Giapan, by Luís Fróis (a Portuguese Jesuit missionary in Japan), published in Richard Willes, The History of Travayle in the West and East Indies (London 1577), cited in Travel Narratives from the Age of Discovery, by Peter C. Mancall, pp. 156–57.

Pronunciation

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Japan

Wikipedia

Wikivoyage has an article on:

Japan

Wikivoyage

IPA^(key): /dʒəˈpæn/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -æn

Proper noun

Japan

An island nation in the Pacific Ocean, located to the east of China, Korea and Russia.
Synonyms: Jap., Jpn., Land of the Rising Sun, Japonia, Nihon, Nippon, Yamato, State of Japan, Chrysanthemum Nation

Derived terms

Descendants

→ Bengali: জাপান (japan)
→ Burmese: ဂျပန် (gya.pan)
→ Hindi: जापान (jāpān)
→ Irish: Seapáin
→ Marathi: जपान (japān)
→ Tamil: ஜப்பான் (jappāṉ)
→ Telugu: జపాను (japānu)
→ Urdu: جاپان (jāpān)

Translations

a country in East Asia

Abkhaz: Иапониа (Japʼonja)
Acehnese: Jeupun
Adyghe: Японие (Japonije)
Afrikaans: Japan (af)
Ainu: シサㇺ (Sisam)
Albanian: Japonia (sq) (Tosk), Japan (Gheg)
Amharic: ጃፓን (ǧapan)
Arabic: اَلْيَابَان m (al-yābān)
Aragonese: Chapón m
Aramaic: ܝܦܢ (japan)
Armenian: Ճապոնիա (Čaponia)
Assamese: জাপান (zapan)
Asturian: Xapón (ast) m
Aymara: Nihun
Azerbaijani: Yaponiya (az)
Banjarese: Japang
Bashkir: Япония (Yaponiya)
Basque: Japonia (eu)
Bavarian: Japan
Belarusian: Япо́нія f (Japónija)
Bengali: জাপান (bn) (japan)
Bishnupriya Manipuri: জাপান (jāpān)
Breton: Japan
Buginese: ᨍᨛᨄ
Bulgarian: Япо́ния (bg) f (Japónija)
Burmese: ဂျပန် (gya.pan)
Buryat: Жибэн (Žiben)
Catalan: Japó (ca) m
Cebuano: Hapon
Chamorro: Japan
Chavacano: Japón
Chechen: Япон (Japon)
Cherokee: ᏣᏆᏂ (tsaquani)
Cheyenne: Japan
Chinese:
Cantonese: 日本 (yue) (yat⁶ bun²)

Dungan: Жыбын (Řɨbɨn)

Gan: 日本 (nyit⁶ biin³)

Hakka: 日本 (Ngit-pún)

Jin: 日本 (reh⁴ beng²)

Mandarin: 日本 (zh) (Rìběn)

Middle Chinese: Lua error in Module:translations at line 75: Translations not allowed in Middle Chinese (ltc). Middle Chinese translations should be given as Literary Chinese (lzh).

Min Bei: 日本 (Nì-bǒ̤ng)

Min Dong: 日本 (Nĭk-buōng)

Min Nan: 日本 (zh-min-nan) (Ji̍t-pún, Li̍t-pún)

Wu: 日本 (zeq pen) (vernacular), 日本 (nyiq pen) (literary)

Xiang: 日本 (nyi⁶ ben³) (vernacular), 日本 (r⁶ ben³) (literary)
Chuvash: Япони (Jap̬oni)
Cornish: Nihon
Crimean Tatar: Yaponiya
Czech: Japonsko (cs) n
Danish: Japan (da)
Dhivehi: ޖާފާނު (jāfānu)
Dutch: Japan (nl) n
Dutch Low Saxon: Japan
Dzongkha: ཇཱ་པཱན (jā pān)
Esperanto: Japanio (eo), Japanujo (eo)
Estonian: Jaapan (et)
Faroese: Japan n
Finnish: Japani (fi)
Franco-Provençal: J·apon
French: le Japon (fr) m
Galician: Xapón (gl) m
Georgian: იაპონია (iaṗonia)
German: Japan (de) n
Greek: Ιαπωνία (el) f (Iaponía)
Gujarati: જાપાન (jāpān)
Haitian Creole: Japon
Hausa: Japan
Hawaiian: Iāpana
Hebrew: יַפָּן (he) (yapan)
Hindi: जापान (hi) m (jāpān)
Hungarian: Japán (hu)
Hunsrik: Schapong n
Icelandic: Japan (is) n
Ido: Japonia (io)
Ilocano: Japon
Indonesian: Jepang (id)
Interlingua: Japon
Interlingue: Lua error in Module:translations at line 71: Translations must be for attested and approved main-namespace languages.
Inuktitut: ᓃᑉᐊᓐ (niipan), Niipan
Irish: An tSeapáin f
Italian: Giappone (it) m
Japanese: 日本 (ja) (Nihon, Nippon), (poetic) 大和 (ja) (Yamato), 日の本 (ja) (Hinomoto)
Javanese: Jepang
Kalmyk: Японь (Yaponʹ)
Kannada: ಜಪಾನ್ (kn) (japān)
Kapampangan: Hapon
Kashmiri: जापान (jāpān)
Kashubian: Japòńskô
Kazakh: Жапония (Japoniä)
Khmer: ជប៉ុន (km) (cĕəʼpon)
Korean: 일본 (Ilbon)
Kunigami: 大和 (Yamatū)
Kurdish:
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Kyrgyz: Жапония (ky) (Japoniya)
Lao: ຍີ່ປຸ່ນ (lo) (nyī pun)
Latgalian: Japoneja f
Latin: Iaponia (la) f, Japonia (la) f
Latvian: Japāna (lv) f
Ligurian: Giappon m
Limburgish: Japan (li)
Lingala: Zapɔ́
Lithuanian: Japonija (lt) f
Lombard: Giappon m, Giapun m
Low German: Japan
Lower Sorbian: Japońska
(deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
Luxembourgish: Japan (lb)
Lü: ᦍᦲᧈᦔᦳᧃᧈ (yii¹ṗun¹)
Macedonian: Јапо́нија (mk) f (Japónija)
Malagasy: Japana (mg)
Malay: Jepun (ms), Jepang (ms)
Malayalam: ജപ്പാന് (jappāṉ)
Maltese: Ġappun
Manchu: ᡰᡳ
ᠪᡝᠨ (ži ben)
Manx: Yn Çhapaan f
Maori: Tiapana
Marathi: जपान (japān)
Marshallese: Japan
Miyako: 大和 (Yamatu)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: Япон (mn) (Japon)

Mongolian: ᠶᠠᠫᠤᠨ (yapun)
Nahuatl: Xapōn
Nauruan: Djapan
Navajo: Binááʼádaałtsʼózí dineʼé bikéyah
Neapolitan: Giappone
Nepali: जापान (jāpān)
Newar: जापान (jāpāna)
Norman: Japon m
Northern Sami: Japána
Norwegian:
Bokmål: Japan (no)

Nynorsk: Japan (nn)
Novial: Lua error in Module:translations at line 71: Translations must be for attested and approved main-namespace languages.
Occitan: Japon (oc) m
Okinawan: 大和 (Yamatu), 大大和 (Ufuyamatu)
Oriya: ଜାପାନ୍ (or) (japan)
Ossetian: Япон (Japon)
Palauan: Siabal
Pashto: جاپان (ps) f (jāpān)
Persian: ژاپن (fa) (žâpon), ژاپون (fa) (žāpōn)
Piedmontese: Giapon m
Plautdietsch: Jau'paun
Polish: Japonia (pl) f
Portuguese: Japão (pt) m
Punjabi: ਜਪਾਨ (japān)
Quechua: Nihun
Rade: Za pô nê
Romani: i Źapònia f
Romanian: Japonia (ro) f
Romansch: Giapun m
Russian: Япо́ния (ru) f (Japónija)
Samoan: Iapani (sm)
Samogitian: Japuonėjė
Sanskrit: जापान (jāpāna)
Santali: ᱡᱟᱯᱟᱱ (japan)
Sardinian: Japone
Scots: Japan
Scottish Gaelic: Iapan
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: Јапан m

Roman: Japan (sh) m
Sicilian: Giappuni (scn) m
Silesian: Japůńja
Sindhi: جاپان
Sinhalese: ජපානය (japānaya)
Slovak: Japonsko (sk) n
Slovene: Japónska (sl) f
Somali: Jabaan
Southern Altai: Јопон (J̌opon)
Spanish: Japón (es) m
Sundanese: Jepang
Swahili: Japani (sw)
Swazi: IJaphani, Japan
Swedish: Japan (sv)
Sylheti: ꠎꠣꠙꠣꠘ (zafan)
Tagalog: Hapon (tl)
Tahitian: Tāpōnē
Tajik: Ҷопон (tg) (Jopon), Жопон (Žopon)
Tamil: ஜப்பான் (ta) (jappāṉ)
Tangsa: Cyexpanx
Tatar: Япон (Yapon)
Tboli: Afun
Telugu: జపాన్ (te) (japān)
Thai: ญี่ปุ่น (th) (yîi-bpùn)
Tibetan: རི་པིན (ri pin), ཉི་ཧོང (nyi hong)
Tok Pisin: Siapan
Translingual: 🗾
Turkish: Japonya (tr)
Turkmen: Ýaponiýa
Udmurt: Япония (JApońija)
Ukrainian: Япо́нія (uk) f (Japónija)
Upper Sorbian: Japanska
Urdu: جاپان m (jāpān)
Uyghur: ياپونىيە (ug) (yaponiye)
Uzbek: Yaponiya (uz)
Venetian: Giapòn m
Vietnamese: Nhật Bản (vi)
Volapük: Yapän (vo)
Waray-Waray: Hapon
Welsh: Japan (cy)
West Frisian: Japan (fy)
Wolof: Sapoŋ
Written Oirat: ᡕᠠᡌᡆᠨ (yapon)
Yaeyama: 大和 (Yamatu)
Yakut: Дьоппуон (Joppuon)
Yiddish: יאַפּאַן n (yapan)
Yonaguni: 大和 (Damatu)
Yoruba: Japan
Zazaki: Japonya (Southern Zazaki)
Zhuang: Yizbwnj, ^{(please verify)} Nditbonj
Zulu: IJapani