Where does “形式名詞” come from?

形式名詞 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 名詞 — noun.

形式名詞 (Japanese): formal noun; a Japanese noun that can be grammaticalized and nominalize clauses

Definitions

  1. formal noun; a Japanese noun that can be grammaticalized and nominalize clauses

Ancestry of “形式名詞”, step by step

形式名詞 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 名詞

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese名詞noun

via Japanese 形式

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese形式format
Every word from Japanese 名詞