みなさん、こんにちは！
Today’s article is not about anime, but is about confusing Japanese words! Many people know that Katakana words are mostly derived from foreign words (often English), therefore they normally sound like the original words (e.g. カード = card).
This article introduces you to some clothes-related Japanese words that do not necessarily sound like how you would call them in English (or in other languages). This may come in handy when you would like to do clothes shopping in Japan!
✅ If you read this article, you will learn these tricky clothe-related words in Japanese.
‘Hoodie’ is NOT 「フッディ」
The Japanese word for ‘Hoodie’ is not 「フッディ」but 「パーカー」(pākā). The word is derived from Nenets, language spoken in northern Russia by the Nenets people (according to Wikipedia). Some people who are working in the fashion industry may call a hoodie 「フーディー」or 「フッディ」but the word is not commonly used in general conversations.
「トレーナー」 Does Not Refer To Shoes.
「トレーナー」refers to ‘sweatshirts’. When a Japanese fashion designer first introduced sweatshirts to Japan, he decided to call this piece of clothing 「トレーナー」 as he thought it was mostly worn by personal trainers in the gym. Nowadays, Japanese people also call it 「スウェット」.
「ジャンパー」Is NOT ‘Jumper’
While a ‘jumper’ in English refers to a knitted upper body garment with long sleeves, confusingly that is not「ジャンパー」 in Japanese.
When Japanese people say 「ジャンパー」they refer to a ‘jacket’. The word is sometimes pronounced as 「ジャンバー」, which is technically an error but is accepted and you see many people say it.
Named After An Onomatopoeia?
The Japanese word for a garment covering from the waist to the ankles is 「ズボン」. We are not sure where this word was originally derived from, but there are 2 theories: one suggests the word is from a French word ‘jupon’, and the other suggests that the word is derived from a sound one makes when wearing a pair of trousers. Do you think it sounds like 「ズボン」when you wear「ズボン」?
While 「ズボン」refers to a ‘trousers/pants’, ‘shorts’ are simply called 「半ズボン」, literally ‘half ズボン’.
「ワンピース」Not Only Refers To The Anime But Also…?
We all know that 「ワンピース」is a very popular pirate anime/manga, but the word is also used to refer to a (one-piece) dress. It is sometimes abbreviated to 「ワンピ」. If an upper-body garment and a lower-body garment were separated, it is called 「ツーピース」
トランクス – What He Was Named After.
One of my favourite characters in the Dragon Ball series is トランクス (Trunks). 鳥山明 (Toriyama Akira), the author of the Dragon Ball series named him after a Japanese word 「トランクス」which refers to ‘boxer shorts’.
まとめ – Summary
This article explained Clothes-Related Japanese words that don’t sound like the original words. How many of them did you know? If you know more words like them, please let leave it in the comment section below.
I hope you found this helpful! If you liked this post, make sure you check out other articles as well! You can also find more phrases from my twitter account. じゃあ、みなさん、さようなら！
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