Where does “karate” come from?
karate (Afrikaans) comes from Japanese 空手, from Japanese 唐手, from Japanese 唐, from Japanese 伽羅, from Sanskrit कालागुरु.
karate (Afrikaans): karate
Definitions
- karate
Ancestry of “karate”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japanese | 空手 | karate; the state of being empty-handed; the... |
| 2 | Japanese | 唐手 | Alternative spelling of 空手 |
| 3 | Japanese | 唐 | foreign lands in general; element in compounds,... |
| 4 | Japanese | 伽羅 | the Gaya confederacy: a grouping of smaller states on the southern end of the Korean peninsula, roughly dating to 42-532 |
| 5 | Sanskrit | कालागुरु | — |