Oxford Dictionary Added Senpai & Waifu

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]Every year dictionaries add new words.

[00:00:01][music] Some from native slang, new tech words, and even some words borrowed from foreign languages. This year 11 Japanese words were added to the Oxford dictionary including waifu and senpai.

[00:00:12]Among some other ones that probably should have been added already. However, [music] these new additions only make up a small portion of Japanese words in the English language. There are over 500 words with Japanese origin widely considered official. But what does that actually mean? Because English doesn't have some sort of committee or requirement for a word to actually be part of the language. So in order for me to not throw any random word in here because some English speaking [music] person has said it before, I will be using dictionaries like Oxford and Merriam-Webster as the main indicator to a word being English or not.

[00:00:43]>> [music] >> A word being in one of the popular dictionaries is pretty much the closest one can get to actually being a standard word.

[00:00:49]>> [music] >> So, what are those? There are some really interesting Japanese words transplanted into English and I'm not talking about the 11 new additions. I'll get to those later. However, some of the most interesting words to me were the ones that have been hiding under [music] my nose. Head honcho and tycoon for example. They've been in English for a long [music] time. Long enough for honcho to pick up a clone and tycoon to become a whole video game genre. Both words have strayed so far from their Japanese origin, I think [music] it is safe to say they are English words.

[00:01:17]Honcho for instance started as honcho in Japanese. Picture what head honcho means to you. Probably some wealth, fame, power. But in Japanese honcho just refers to the leader of a group. The kanji are literally made up of leader and group. One of the first foreign contacts I had was in prisoner of war camps. [music] It referred to a position that would manage a specific set of prisoners in a work party. You could say he was the leader of the group and they had to call him honcho. From there it spread to the army and then back to English speaking countries. [music] Head was tacked on later seemingly for no semantic purpose, but it does sound a little bit better. Though that could just be because I've heard it that way my entire life. I suppose it does give a little context though for the people that didn't get language immersion in a prison camp.

[00:01:57]>> [music] >> And while head does make it sound a lot more English, adding an English word will do that to any word, people still think it's Spanish for some reason, >> [music] >> which I can't judge because I also did think it was Spanish, so yeah. It's proposed that maybe people think it's Spanish because it sounds like poncho and that's Spanish, I guess. I don't know. I don't really think there's a good reason for it.

[00:02:16]>> [music] >> But every single time I think of it in my head, I think of it with a super like deep Southern accent. The head honcho.

[00:02:23]Either way though, Japanese would be one of my later guesses from where the word came from. And tycoon's the same idea. I figured it would just be another word created during like America's frontier development to refer to a big company, maybe for the gold rush or something like that.

[00:02:36]>> [music] >> But no, apparently it came from Japan in the 1800s. Now, why is that? Back in the 1850s, Commodore [music] Matthew Perry was sent with four ships to Japan with a simple goal. Reestablish regular trade and a good relationship between Japan and the Western world, especially America. Oh, and a little tidbit, a good here does not mean it was mutual. It was supposed to just be beneficial for the US. Though they didn't go intending to do war in Japan, but it was more like, "You're going to do this stuff for us whether you like it or not." So, yeah, we said, "We are going to be friends."

[00:03:06]He was equipped with a letter from the United States president [music] addressed to the emperor of Japan along with a healthy amount of guns and cannons for extra persuasion. [music] Now, what we had failed to realize back at the time is that the emperor didn't really have much power. The Tokugawa shogunate was in charge of the country and should have been the recipients [music] of the letter.

[00:03:23]Now, the shogun didn't want to just tell Commodore Perry his actual title as shogun can mean general of the army. It doesn't sound all that impressive when translated literally.

[00:03:32]>> [music] >> So, instead they started using the word tycoon, which means great prince, much more impressive. When Perry came back from Japan to America, finishing his cultural exchange, naturally the new word for Japan's leader was brought over as well. The spelling was quickly changed and it was even used to refer to Abraham Lincoln as a sort of nickname.

[00:03:50]One of his aides, John Hay, was a serial tycoon user, basically just spamming the word in his diary. Then, in the 1900s, it would shift from being more of a governmental word to more of [music] a business word involving being filthy rich and having a lot of power. Now, another word I didn't bring up before is a scosh. I can't honestly tell you with certainty that I've heard this word before, >> [music] >> but it is an actual word. Maybe I've heard my grandma use it a couple times, but besides that, I really couldn't tell you a single occasion where I've actually heard the word. Even [music] so, it appears it was used more in the past, and even in current day, it seems like there are specific places that still use it.

[00:04:23]>> [music] >> Two of those places being Maine and Scotland. Like honcho, it came around in the 1900s from military. Though this time it had less to do with prison camps and more just American military in Japan.

[00:04:34]They were around Japanese speakers and the language a lot, so they naturally started picking up a phrase or two in their own vocabulary.

[00:04:40]One of these words was sukoshi.

[00:04:43]Apparently, one application of the word they thought would be good is just making fun of the smaller soldiers, calling them a scosh. Also referring to things like minor injuries as a scosh wound, or a little bit of something as a scosh. A scosh of salt. Over time, it was shortened and somehow became an integral part of Maine's dialects, [music] at least according to the short. And those are some of the more interesting words that I found. Ones where the pronunciation changed along with the meaning, [music] making them feel very uniquely English. Just to make an arbitrary grouping cuz it sounds kind of cool, [music] these are like tier one loan words. They changed enough to a point where they feel unique, and many people using them have zero clue of their origin. Then there are tier two words. Words that have changed, but not all that much. These are definitely English words, but not as unique [music] as the tier ones. They're at least a bit different from how they're used in Japan, and they can't easily be integrated into a sentence. These have likely been used in the language and countries for some time, but most people still know or could at least guess [music] that they are of Japanese origin. Sushi, tsunami, sake, which these are often just more specific than they are in Japanese. We already have a word for alcohol, but we don't have a short word specifically for Japanese [music] rice-based wine. It isn't wrong as far as the Japanese definition goes, but it does limit the scope [music] of it because that works better for the usage in English. I find these different from the tier ones. Instead of limiting the scope or slightly shifting it, the top tiers find a whole new usage. Now, tier three, the most important category for this specific [music] video. These are mostly just brand new additions that haven't really had time to change or words that just mean exactly what they mean in Japanese and don't really have much other reason to change. This year we got ekiden, [music] mottainai, and pechakucha as the most notable ones, which basically sit at the bottom of this list. I think the only reason ekiden was even added is because there was [music] two races in the UK and the Oxford Dictionary is from the UK.

[00:06:30]So, it kind of makes sense. Ekiden is still not in Merriam-Webster, the American dictionary, so that's what I'm chalking it [music] up to. But, pretty much every word is going to start at this tier three spot, whether it's in the dictionary at this spot or not. It does take a lot of time for a word to evolve if it even evolves ever. The words with more of a specific cultural focus don't change [music] as much as adjectives or nouns, and they don't really need to. Like I said, some of them might be more limited in scope, but that doesn't stop them from requiring new English [music] meanings later on.

[00:06:56]And pechakucha was actually really surprising to me. According to the dictionary, a fast-paced presentation format originating in Japan in which a speaker may show only 20 slides, >> [music] >> each displayed for only 20 seconds, resulting in a concise engaging talk with visually impactful images.

[00:07:13]Also, a presentation in this format frequently as a modifier. Now, I was looking up how this actually plays into being a part of the English language, and I was expecting to only see dictionary entries.

[00:07:22]>> [music] >> However, there are actually apparently a lot of pechakucha nights. It seems to be pretty popular. According to the pechakucha map, there are over 1,300 pechakucha nights pretty evenly [music] spread out, and it doesn't appear to just be a fad in one specific city.

[00:07:36]They're pretty evenly spread out across the globe. [music] With how popular this seems from the map, I probably seem like an idiot to many of you who have attended PetchaKucha nights, but I'm being honest, I had no clue [music] about this beforehand. And then there is mottainai, which they have in the dictionary as expressing regret over or disapproval of something which is considered to be shown a lack [music] of respect or wasteful. This is really condensing the Japanese concept as it is tied [music] to philosophy and other Japanese cultural ideas. So, if you do want the full nuance and explanation, you can go look at this Tofugu article which has like 10 paragraphs explaining it, so >> [music] >> yeah, it should be good. And the last one of the 11 I'm going to talk about is waifu. I saved this one for last cuz I figured if people didn't already click off from hearing it in the intro, they would click off now. There is a little bit of a debate on whether this word is actually Japanese or English. The first known instance of it being [music] picked up was in Azumanga Daioh, an early 2000s comedy anime. The first instance was when Kimura-sensei refers to his actual wife as my waifu. My waifu.

[00:08:35]From there it was picked up by western audiences. According to the Azumanga Daioh wiki, the term my waifu was used in Japanese prior to this. Men would refer to their wives as my waifu. What they don't say there though is if they're actually saying my wife just with a Japanese accent or if they were [music] intentionally saying my waifu.

[00:08:52]But I'm sure that explanation has bored you enough anyway. It came from Azumanga Daioh, probably. So, yeah. That's it for the video. The other words weren't too interesting. I don't feel like talking about cracker or naginata. That's a good way to flash back to playing For Honor.

[00:09:06]If you ever had the misfortune of playing that game, you would know what I'm talking about. And uh Valentine's Day Japan. Anyways, thanks for watching.

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