Where does “予備役” come from?
予備役 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 役, from Middle Chinese 役.
予備役 (Japanese): reserve service
Definitions
- reserve service
Ancestry of “予備役”, step by step
予備役 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Japanese 役
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japanese | 役 | role, service, use; hand, scoring combination;... |
| 2 | Middle Chinese | 役 | — |
via Japanese 予備
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japanese | 予備 | reserve (that which is reserved, or kept back, as for future use), spare, preliminaries |