Where does “英会話” come from?

英会話 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 英, from Middle Chinese 英.

英会話 (Japanese): conversation in English

Definitions

  1. conversation in English

Ancestry of “英会話”, step by step

英会話 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 英

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

via Japanese 会話

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese会話conversation
Every word from Middle Chinese 英 →Every word from Japanese 英 →