³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

Empty orchestra

Everyone knows and uses the Japanese loan word karaoke, probably without realising what interesting development it took. Kara means 'empty, void' and okesutora - short oke - means 'orchestra' and is an English loan word in the Japanese language. So karaoke is a kind of double and reversed borrowed English-Japanese loan word, actually meaning 'empty orchestra'!

Sent by: Oliver

Comments

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Share this page

Open/close

Related Links

On bbc.co.uk/languages

12-weeks email tips

Quick fix phrases 36 languages

Teachers and tutors

On bbc.co.uk

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Schools

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Learning

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service Learning English

Elsewhere

The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ is not responsible for the content of external sites

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iD

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ navigation

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ © 2014 The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.