Where does “gaijin” come from?
gaijin (English) comes from Japanese 外人, from Japanese 人, from Proto-Japonic *pitə.
gaijin (English): A non-Japanese person
Ancestry of “gaijin”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Japanese | 外人 | outsider; an estranged, unfamiliar person;... |
| 2 | Japanese | 人 | a person, human; an individual; mankind, people |
| 3 | Proto-Japonic | *pitə | — |