Where does “大英帝国” come from?

大英帝国 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 大, from Old Japanese 大, from Proto-Japonic əpə — big, large; many.

大英帝国 (Japanese): the British Empire

Definitions

  1. the British Empire

Ancestry of “大英帝国”, step by step

大英帝国 traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 大

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese大big, large; the large part of; arch-
2Old Japanese大big, large; large
3Proto-Japonicəpəbig, large; many

via Japanese 英

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese英United Kingdom; English; England
2Middle Chinese英—

via Japanese 帝国

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese帝国empire
Every word from Proto-Japonic əpə →Every word from Old Japanese 大 →Every word from Japanese 大 →
大英帝国 — Etymology, Origin & Word History | Etymology Explorer