Where does “карате” come from?

карате (Serbo-Croatian) comes from Japanese 唐手, from Japanese 空手, from Japanese 空, from Middle Chinese 空.

карате (Serbo-Croatian): karate

Definitions

  1. karate

Ancestry of “карате”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese唐手Alternative spelling of 空手
2Japanese空手karate; the state of being empty-handed; the...
3Japanese空the sky; something empty; ineffectual
4Middle Chinese空—
Every word from Middle Chinese 空 →Every word from Japanese 空 →Every word from Japanese 唐手 →