Curio
Today

origami

or-ih-GAH-mee · noun

JapaneseEnglish

Origin

English borrowed "origami" directly from Japanese 折り紙 (origami), which is built from 折り (ori, "to fold") and 紙 (kami, "paper").

Journey

The word entered English as a straightforward borrowing from Japanese, carrying its meaning intact rather than shifting over time.

Related words

The facts don't point to any English cognate — "ori" and "kami" don't have known relatives in English, so the word stands on its own.

More words

From Japanese

Nearby, A–Z

All words A–Z →