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japan

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Japan means a hard smooth and glossy black coating.

(noun)

An example of japan is the enamel like coating used to make metal surfaces black and shiny.

The definition of japan is to add a dark, smooth and hard gloss to a metal object.

(verb)

An example of japan is varnishing a metal box with a black shiny coating.

Japan is defined as an Asian island country located off the Eastern coast of Asia.

(noun)

An example of Japan is where Tokyo is located.

See japan in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

a lacquer or varnish giving a hard, glossy finish
a liquid mixture used as a paint drier
also japan drier
objects decorated and lacquered in the Japanese style

Origin: orig. from Japan

transitive verb japanned, japanning

to varnish or lacquer with or as with japan

island country in the Pacific, off the E coast of Asia, including Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, & many smaller islands: 145,841 sq mi (377,727 sq km); pop. 123,612,000; cap. Tokyo
arm of the Pacific, between Japan & E Asia: 391,100 sq mi (1,012,945 sq km)

See japan in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

A black enamel or lacquer used to produce a durable glossy finish.
An object decorated with this substance.

transitive verb ja·panned, ja·pan·ning, ja·pans

To decorate with a black enamel or lacquer.
To coat with a glossy finish.

Origin:

Origin: After Japan

A country of Asia on an archipelago off the northeast coast of the mainland. Traditionally settled c. 660 B.C., Japan's written history began in the 5th century A.D. During the feudal period (12th-19th century) real power was held by the shoguns, whose dominance was finally ended by the restoration of the emperor Mutsuhito in 1868. Feudalism was abolished, and the country was opened to Western trade and industrial technology. Expansionist policies led to Japan's participation in World War II, which ended after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 1945). Today the country is highly industrialized and noted for its advanced technology. Tokyo is the capital and the largest city. Population: 127,000,000.

Word History: Stamp collectors know that Nihon and Nippon on Japanese stamps mean “Japan”; what they probably don't know is that Nihon, Nippon, and Japan are all ultimately the same word. In the early part of the Chinese Tang dynasty—in A.D. 670, to be precise—Japanese scholars who had studied Chinese created a new name for their country using the Chinese phrase for “origin of the sun, sunrise,” because Japan is located east of China. In the Chinese of the time (called Middle Chinese), the phrase was nzyet-pwun. To this the scholars added the Chinese suffix -kwuk, “country,” yielding a compound nzyet-pwun-kwuk, “sun-origin-country, land of the rising sun.” The consonant clusters in the word were not pronounceable in Old Japanese, so the form was simplified to Nip-pon-gu or *Ni-pon-gu, the latter developing by regular sound change to Ni-hon-gu. The forms Nippon and Nihon of today are the same as these, minus the “country” suffix. Interestingly, the Chinese themselves took to calling Japan by the name that the Japanese had invented, and it is from the Chinese version of the name that English Japan is ultimately derived. In Mandarin Chinese, one of the forms of Chinese to develop from Middle Chinese, the phrase evolved to Rìběnguó, an early form of which was recorded by Marco Polo as Chipangu, which he would have pronounced as (chĭ-pän-go͞o) or (shĭ-pän-go͞o). The early Mandarin word was borrowed into Malay as Japang, which was encountered by Portuguese traders in Moluccas in the 16th century. These traders may have been the ones to bring the word to Europe; it is first recorded in English in 1577, spelled Giapan.

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Japan

, Sea of or East Sea

An enclosed arm of the western Pacific Ocean between Japan and the Asian mainland. Several straits connect it with the East China Sea, the Pacific Ocean, and the Sea of Okhotsk.

See japan in Ologies

Japan

Japanism

1. devotion to or preference for the customs, policies, language, or culture of Japan.

2. anything peculiar to or characteristic of Japan or its people.

Japonism

a style of art, idiom, custom, mannerism, etc., typical of the Japanese.

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