Siberian peninsula, 1730, named for a native people, the Kamchadal, from Koryak (Chukotko-Kamchatkan) konchachal, which is said to mean "men of the far end" [Room]. Related: Kamchatkan.
a Japanese word meaning "superior, lord," a title of the gods of Japan, also given to governors. The word was chosen by Japanese converts and Protestant missionaries to refer to the Christian God. Attested in English from 1610s.
"suicide flier," 1945, Japanese, literally "divine wind," from kami "god, providence" (see kami) + kaze "wind." Said to have been originally the name given in folklore to a typhoon which saved Japan from Mongol invasion by wrecking Kublai Khan's fleet (August 1281). The World War II attacks began in October 1944 off the Philippines. As an adjective from 1946.
As an aside, at war's end, the Japanese had, by actual count, a total of 16,397 aircraft still available for service, including 6,374 operational fighters and bombers, and if they had used only the fighters and bombers for kamikaze missions, they might have realized, additionally, 900 ships sunk or damaged and 22,000 sailors killed or injured. In fact, however, the Japanese had outfitted many aircraft, including trainers, as potential suicide attackers. As intelligence estimates indicated, the Japanese believed they could inflict at least 50,000 casualties to an invasion force by kamikaze attacks alone. [Richard P. Hallion, "Military Technology and the Pacific War," 1995]
name taken by Cambodia after the communist takeover in 1975, representing a local pronunciation of the name that came into English as Cambodia. Related: Kampuchean.
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to sing."
It forms all or part of: accent; cant (n.1); cantabile; cantata; cantatrice; canticle; canto; cantor; canzone; Carmen; chanson; chant; chanter; chanteuse; chanty; chanticleer; charm; concent; descant; enchant; enchantment; hen; incantation; incentive; oscine; precentor; recant.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Greek eikanos "cock," literally "bird who sings (for sunrise);" Latin cantare, canere "to sing;" Old Irish caniaid "sings," Welsh canu "sing;" Old English hana "cock."
U.S. nautical word for "a Hawaiian," 1840, from Hawaiian kanaka "man" (cognate with Samoan tangata). In Australia, "native of the South Sea islands" working on sugar plantations, etc.
Dravidian language of southwestern India, formerly Canarese, now known as Kannada.
also *kend-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to shine."
It forms all or part of: candela; candelabrum; candescent; candid; candidate; candle; candor; chandelier; chandler; frankincense; incandescence; incandescent; incendiary; incense (n.) "substance producing a sweet smell when burned;" incense (v.1) "to provoke, anger."
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit cand- "to give light, shine," candra- "shining, glowing, moon;" Greek kandaros "coal;" Latin candere "to shine;" Welsh cann "white," Middle Irish condud "fuel."
"large marsupial mammal of Australia," 1770, used by Capt. Cook and botanist Joseph Banks (who first reported the species to Europeans), supposedly representing a native word from northeast Queensland, Australia, but often said to be unknown now in any native language. However, according to Australian linguist R.M.W. Dixon ("The Languages of Australia," Cambridge, 1980), the word probably is from Guugu Yimidhirr (Endeavour River-area Aboriginal language) /gaNurru/ "large black kangaroo."
In 1898 the pioneer ethnologist W.E. Roth wrote a letter to the Australasian pointing out that gang-oo-roo did mean 'kangaroo' in Guugu Yimidhirr, but this newspaper correspondence went unnoticed by lexicographers. Finally the observations of Cook and Roth were confirmed when in 1972 the anthropologist John Haviland began intensive study of Guugu Yimidhirr and again recorded /gaNurru/. [Dixon]
Kangaroo court is American English, first recorded 1850 in a Southwestern context (also mustang court), from notion of proceeding by leaps.
"Chinese ideographs that make up the bulk of Japanese writing," 1907, from Japanese kan "Chinese" (literally Han) + ji "letter, character."
