Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Japanese ·1980s
Umami
from 旨味 (umami)
- Meaning
- The savoury fifth taste, alongside sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.
- Source word
- 旨味 (umami)
- Route into English
- Japanese *umami* ("good taste") → coined as a scientific term by chemist Kikunae Ikeda in 1908 after he isolated glutamate → adopted in English after glutamate research was globalised in the 1980s.
- Arrived
- 1980s
From Japanese
Two waves — Meiji-era diplomatic contact (1850s–1900s) and post-war US military presence (1945–) account for almost all Japanese loans in general English.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.