The Oxford English Dictionary defines a loanword as “a word adopted or borrowed from another language.” Although I don’t quite see how one language-speaking people can borrow a word (after all, how do you give back a word?), certainly ikigai is a word that in certain circles—especially the personal development circle—has been adopted into the English language.
Here are some other Japanese loanwords which we may be more familiar with:
- Anime
- Emoji
- Futon
- Haiku
- Honcho
- Judo
- Karaoke
- Karate
- Kimono
- Ninja
- Origami
- Ramen
- Rickshaw
- Sake
- Samurai
- Sushi
- Teriyaki
- Tofu
- Tsunami
- Typhoon
- Wasabi
- Zen
The progression of a word from one culture to another is a fascinating subject, a subset of a much broader subject— what happens when one culture engages with another?