The original list was compiled by keiichiro, a Japanese national who’s spent a couple of years in the United States and noted a growing number of Japenglish (or Wasei-eigo) terms. Since the original website is down, I have recreated the list here and will keep updating it.
| -Janglish (KATAKANA)- | -Janglish (Alphabet)- | – English in the US – |
| Fashion? | ||
| スリーサイズ | three-size | measurements |
| ヒップ | hip | buttocks |
| When used for measurement, “hip” is used as hip in Japan. But hip is often used to describe buttocks there. In the US hip may be used to describe buttoks euphemistically. But mainly hip is used to mean the sides of the body below thw waist. | ||
| パンティストッキング | panty stocking | panty hose |
| I personally prefer “stocking” to “hose.” In U.K. “tights” is used. | ||
| スイミングパンツ | swimming pants | swimming trunks/shorts/suit |
| Bathing …. is also common. While I wear a suit at work, I don’t understand why I put on a “suit” to swim, too. | ||
| トレーナー | trainer | sweat shirts |
| ワイシャツ | white shirt | dress shirt |
| マフラー | muffler | scarf |
| Not that muffler cannot be used. But scarf is much more popular here. | ||
| チャック | chuck | zipper |
| ファスナー | fastener | zipper |
| カフスボタン | cuffs button | cuff link |
| モヒカンカット | Mohican cut | Mohawk |
| Why this difference? In U.K. “mohican” is used. | ||
| キーホルダー | key holder | key chain |
| グラマー | glamour(ous) | stacked/be really built |
| スマート | smart | thin/slim |
| ジーパン | G-pan | jeans |
| ジージャン | G-jan | jean jacket |
| スタ（ジアム）ジャン（パー） | stadium jumper | jacket with team’s logo |
| マニキュア | manicure | nail polish |
| オールバック | all back | swept back hair |
| フリーサイズ | free-size | one size fits all |
| サファリスタイル | safari style | camouflage clothes |
| ハイソックス | high socks | knee-high socks |
| ワンピース | one-piece | dress |
| One-piece is used for women’s swimsuits in English. | ||
| ツーピース | two-piece | suits |
| ピアス | pierce | earrings |
| In English whether your ears are pierce or not is not an issue. In Japan when your ears are pierced, earings are called “pierce”. | ||
| バスト | bust | breast/bosom |
| パンツ | pants | underpants |
| The Japanese word for pants is “ZUBON”, which is from Portuguese. | ||
| T-バック | T-back | thong |
| ノー・スリーブ | no-sleeve | sleeveless |
| ペア・ルック | pair-look | same outfit |
| ストレート・パーマ | straight perm | relaxer ? |
| エステティックサロン | esthetic salon | a beauty salon offering esthetic services |
| At home? | ||
| In the kitchen | ||
| コーヒーミル | coffee mill | coffee grinder |
| I don’t think “mill” is wrong. But “grinder” sounds more common. | ||
| フライパン | fry pan | pan |
| オーブントースター | oven toaster | toaster oven |
| ストーブ | stove | heater |
| レンジ | range | stove |
| Range is used but I hear “stove” more frequently. | ||
| Electric goods | ||
| クーラー | cooler | air-conditioner |
| テレビゲーム | televi game | video game |
| ファミリーコンピュータ | Family computer | Nintendo |
| スーパーファミコン | Super Fami-com | Super Nintendo |
| Nintendo named them diferently. | ||
| ビデオカメラ | video camera | video camcorder |
| VTR | VTR | VCR |
| ビデオデッキ | video deck | video cassette recorder |
| ラジオカセット | radio cassette | portable stereo /boom box |
| Then what if the power is weak and the sound is monoral as the one I bought when I was in junior high? | ||
| プッシュホン | push phone | touch tone phone |
| シャープ | sharp sign | pound sign/number sign |
| This is about the name of the key. I wonder why people don’t call it “sharp” as in music. I’ve heard it is called “square” or “hash” in U.K. | ||
| フリーダイアル | free dial | toll free number |
| Freephone is used in U.K. | ||
| ポケットベル | pocket bell | pager / beeper |
| The word “pocket bell” is made by NTT, Japanese phone giant. | ||
| ナンバーディスプレー | number display | caller ID |
| Another creation by NTT, Japanese phone company. | ||
| インターホン | inter-phone | intercom |
| アフターサービス | after-service | service after the sales |
| アフターケア | after-care | service after the sales |
| コンデンサ | condensor | capacitor |
| FD | FD | floppy disk |
| This abbreviation is not so popular. | ||
| バージョン・アップ | version-up | upgrade/improve |
| グレード・アップ | gread-up | upgrade/improve |
| . | ||
| Home improvement/tools | ||
| マンション | mansion | condominium |
| This is most famous and infamous Janglish in Japan. | ||
| ワンルームマンション | one-room mansion | studio apartment |
| フローリング | flooring | wooden floor |
| コンセント | concent | outlet |
| I guess it was from “concentric outlet.” | ||
| プラスドライバー | plus(+) driver | philips head screwdriver |
| マイナスドライバー | minus(-) driver | regular/flathead screwdriver |
| Since I think using “+/-” is easy to understand, I wonder why American don’t say this way. | ||
| スパナ | spanner | wrench |
| ピンセット | pincette | tweezers/foceps/pncers |
| マイホーム | my-home | owned house |
| ユニットバス | unit bath | prefabricated bath |
| Which contains a bathtub and a space where you wash yourself. | ||
| Reminder:You must not use soap in the bathtub in Japan. | ||
| others | ||
| リンス | rinse | conditioner |
| メロドラマ | melodrama | soap opera |
| Melodrama in Japan is used to describe soap operas while almost all of “soap operas” seem to be melodramas. | ||
| ワイドショウ | wide-show | talk show / morning show |
| ゴールデンタイム | golden-time | prime-time |
| ベビーカー | baby car | stroller |
| バギー | buggy | umbrella stroller |
| Baby buggy is used for a bigger one. | ||
| ベビーベッド | baby bed | baby crib |
| When my friend asked room service to bring baby crib, he somehow received a baby cream. He was disappointed by his English skill. | ||
| ヘルスメーター | health-meter | (bathroom) scales |
| テーブルセンター | table center | centerpiece |
| at School and Office | ||
| OL（オフィスレディー） | OL/office lady | women working in white-collar work place mainly doing clerical work. |
| In US I sometimes see the existance of the word “OL” refferd as a symbol how unequally women in Japan are treated. | ||
| ホッチキス | hotchkiss | stapler |
| Hotchkiss is a name of the inventor. | ||
| ブラインドタッチ | blind touch | touch typing |
| ダイアルイン | dial-in | direct number |
| セロハンテープ | cellophane tape | Scotch tape |
| マジックテープ | magic tape | Velcro |
| シャープペンシル | sharp pencil | mechanical pencil |
| ボールペン | ball pen | ball point pen |
| カンニング | cunning | cheating |
| When you have a exam at school. Not that you did. | ||
| リンチ | lynch | bullying/abuse/beating somebody up |
| シール | seal | sticker |
| In UK “Seal” is also used. | ||
| グラウンド | ground | playground |
| プリント | handout | |
| -Janglish (KATAKANA)- | -Janglish (Alphabet)- | – English in the US – |
| Driving | ||
| セーフティードライブ | safety drive | driving safely |
| フロントガラス | front glass | windshield |
| I’ve heard “windscreen” is also used in UK. | ||
| バックミラー | back mirror | rearview mirror |
| ハンドル | handle | steering wheel |
| クラクション | Klaxon | car horn |
| ウィンカー | winker | blinker/turn signal |
| Indicator is used in U.K. | ||
| チャイルドシート | child seat | car seat |
| ボンネット | bonnet | hood |
| Bonnet in U.K. but hood in USA. | ||
| ガソリンスタンド | gasoline stand | gas station |
| Petrol station is used in U.K. | ||
| ベンツ | Bentz | Mercedes |
| Porsche is Porche. Ford is Ford. But Bentz is different. I’ve heard that called same in Germany. | ||
| シボレー | SHI-VO-Rei? | Chevrolet(Chevy) |
| I guess Chevrolet sounded Shi-vo-rei for Japanese when first imported. | ||
| ハイウェー | highway | express way / free way |
| Many of “highway” in U.S. have intersections and traffic lights. “Motorway” is used in U.K. | ||
| ナンバープレート | number plate | license plate |
| Number plate is OK in U.K. | ||
| タンクローリー | tank lorry | tanker |
| パンク | punc(ture) | flat tire |
| オートバイ | auto-bi(ke) | motorcycle |
| RV | RV | sports utility vehicle/SUV |
| Somehow, cars such as Jeep Cherokee and Ford Explorer are called RVs, not SUVs, in Japan. | ||
| In U.S. RV is also called a camper, which is much bigger than “micro bus” in Japan, and has a bed, a stove, and a shower inside. | ||
| キャンピングカー | camping car | trailer house? mobile home/RV? |
| パト（ロール）カー | patrol car | squad car/police car |
| patroll car is used but “squad car” seems more popular. | ||
| バン | van | (station) wagon |
| ワゴン | wagon | van |
| Somehow these two are mixed in Japan. A wagon is as tall as a sedan and usually uses a same model name, such as “Camry wagon.” But a full-size van is much taller. | ||
| マイカー | my-car | owned car |
| サイドブレーキ | side-brake | parking brake |
| セルモーター | cell-motor | starter |
| オープンカー | open car | convertible |
| ペーパードライバー | paper driver | person with a driving licence who seldom drive |
| メット・イン | metto-in | a style of scooter which has a compartment under the seat to hold the crash helmet |
| Sports | ||
| Baseball | ||
| スリーA | 3A(three A) | triple A |
| ホームイン | home-in | come home / is scored |
| ナイター | nighter | night game |
| フォアボール | four ball | walk |
| デッドボール | dead ball | hit by a pitch |
| After a batter is hit by a pitch, the ball is dead. Then runners can not move because it is a bead ball now. | ||
| タッチアップ | touch-up | tag up |
| タッチアウト | touch-out | tag out |
| バックネット | back net | backstop |
| フルベース | full base | bases loaded |
| ランニングホームラン | running home run | inside-the-park home run |
| テキサスヒット | Texas hit | Texas leaguer |
| スリーベース・ヒット | three-base hit | triple |
| ツーベース・ヒット | two-base hit | double |
| エンタイトルド・ツーベース・ヒット | entitled two-base hit | ground rule double |
| ハーラー・ダービー | hurler derby | the competition on the number of winning games among professional baseball pitchers(?) |
| トップ・バッター | top batter | leadoff |
| キャンプ・イン | camp-in | start/report to spring training |
| Golf | ||
| ショート、ミドル、ロング | short/long/middle hole | par 3/5/4 hole |
| ニアピン | near pin | closest to pin |
| ドラコン | driving contest | longest drive |
| パー・オン | par-on | hit the green in regulation |
| オーバー・ドライブ | over-drive | outdrive |
| フック・ライン | hook-line | right-to-left breaking putt |
| ブービー | booby | the second from the last |
| ブービーメーカー | booby maker | booby |
| Pro wrestling | ||
| バックドロップ | back-drop | suplex |
| フロントスープレックス | front-suplex | belly-to-belly |
| サイドスープレックス | side-suplex | back-drop |
| スコルピオンデスロック | scorpion-death-lock | sharp-shoop |
| ラリアット | lariat | close-line |
| Thanks to Nemoto-san who gave me those words. Actually I have no idea of these words. | ||
| Others | ||
| クイックターン | quick turn (swimming) | flip turn |
| How to turn at the end of the swimming pool | ||
| フライング・スタート | flying (start) | false start |
| ルームランナー | room-runner | treadmill |
| ヨット | yacht | sail boat |
| Yacht in Japan is usually used to discribes a small one masted sail boat while “yacht” in English is for a small ship and not limited to a ship with sails. | ||
| マラソン | marathon | jogging/long distance race |
| Please use “marathon” only when you run 42.195 km. Personally I do’t like them to call a 5k race as “xx city marathon” in Japan. You know it is much harder to finish 42km. | ||
| リュックサック | rucksack(German) | backpack |
| シーズンオフ | season off | off-season |
| ボブスレー | bobsleigh | bobsled |
| bobsleigh is English. But I’ve never heard it in TV during the Nagano Olympics. Every time “bobsled” was used. | ||
| スラップスケート | slap-skate | klap-skate |
| In Olympic in Nagano most of speed skaters used this new type of skate shoes. “Klap” is a Dutch word for “slap” in English. (“Klapschaats” in Dutch) I don’t understand why Japanese use “slap”, which is not Japanese of cource, while “klap” is used in English. | ||
| バトンタッチ | baton touch | baton pass |
| ゴール | goal | finish |
| Your goal in a race is not the goal but the finish line. | ||
| ラストスパート | last-spurt | last hard drive/ |
| dash to the finish line ? | ||
| バトンガール | baton girl | baton twirler |
| Eating and Drinking | ||
| コカコーラ ライト | Coca-Cola Lite | —— |
| Coca-Cola Lite is a product of Coca-Cola(Japan) and is not sold in USA. It has 12kcal/100ml, while Diet Coke has no calories. (Note:Summer in 99, Diet Coke is being introduced in Japan) | ||
| フライドポテト | fried potato | French fries |
| ポテトフライ | potato fry | French fries |
| Frites in France | ||
| バイキング | Viking | buffet |
| This is about a style of restaurants. | ||
| Because Japanese people pronounce it as “biking”, the confusion is sometimes big. | ||
| ホットケーキ | hotcake | pancake |
| Hotcake is used but “pancake” seems to be more popular. | ||
| プリン | pudding | caramel cream/caramel custared |
| Pudding in Japan is a kind of pudding. But because there are various puddings here, it is hard to order in restaurants unless you know the exact name. | ||
| アメリカンコーヒー | American coffee | weak coffee |
| Coffee served in the US is usually as weak as “American coffee” in Japan. I know a restaurant where they give us a choice of “French” or “American”. French one is strong as regular one in Japan. | ||
| At Starbucks Coffee they sell “cafe Americano, ” though it is made of espresso and hot water. | ||
| ソフトクリーム | soft cream | soft serve ice cream |
| シュークリーム | chou (a la) creme | cream puff |
| ハンバーグステーキ | hamburg steak | chopped steak |
| アイスティー | ice tea | iced tea |
| ミンチボール | mince ball | meatball |
| モーニングサービス | morning service | boiled egg, coffee and toast served as a breakfast combo menu |
| Let me assure you that there is nothing relevant to any religions. | ||
| カウンター | counter | bar (in a restaurant) |
| -Janglish (KATAKANA)- | -Janglish (Alphabet)- | – English in the US – |
| Others | ||
| ピエロ | pierrot | clown |
| Pierrot is not wrong but much less popular than “clown.” | ||
| ジェットコースター | jet coaster | roller coaster |
| レントゲン | Roentgen (picture) | X rays (picture) |
| Roentgen is the physicist who discovered X rays. | ||
| シュミレーション | sumilation | simulation |
| モーニングコール | morning call | wake-up call |
| サマータイム | summer time | daylight saving time |
| Summer time is used in U.K. In Australia “daylight saving time.” | ||
| ロス | Los | L.A. |
| We are talking about a name of the city in the U.S. | ||
| テレホンボックス | telephone box | telephone booth |
| アンケート | enquete | questionnair |
| トイレ | toilet | restroom/bathroom |
| Even if you ask where the “toilet” is, you will be directed to the right place. | ||
| W.C. | W.C. | restroom, men’s/ladies’ room |
| Though I’m not sure if “water closet” is used as English word, I’ve never seen “W.C.” sign in the U.S. | ||
| ゲームセンター | game center | video arcade |
| バックナンバー | back number | back issues (of magazines) |
| DM | DM | direct mail |
| This abbreviation is not commonly used. | ||
| ディープキス | deep kiss | French kiss |
| Then what in French? | ||
| スキンシップ | skinship | close relationship/quality time |
| Because “Skinship” sounds for American to mean physical and sexual touching, it may cause a big misunderstanding. It may be one of the most harmful words. | ||
| デマ | dema(gogie) | rumor |
| ガードマン | guardman | security guard |
| ゼロゼロセブン(007) | zero zero seven | double oh seven |
| ナイーブ | naive | ingenuous/pure-hearted? |
| Naive used in Japanese has a positive feeling while it has negative one in English. | ||
| テレビタレント | TV talent | TV personality |
| CM | CM | commercial |
| This abbreviation is not used. | ||
| マンネリ（ズム） | mannerism | routine |
| マンツーマン | man-to-man | one-on-one (one-to-one) |
| Man-to-man defense is used. But when you teach something to a person, you teach him “one-on-one,” not “man-to-man.” | ||
| フェミニスト | feminist | chivalrous/kind to women |
| If I remember correctly,in 70’s the word “feminist” meant something about women’s rights even in Japan. Somehow the meaning changed. | ||
| シルバーシート | silver-seat | priority seating |
| コストダウン | cost-down | cost reduction |
| キオスク | kiosk | news/food stand in JR stations |
| ミスコンテスト | miss-contest | beauty pagent |
| イメージ・アップ | image-up | improve one’s image |
| パイプ・カット | pipe-cut | vasectomy |
| ボディ・チェック | body check | body search /frisk |
| バージン・ロード | virgin road | aisle where a bride wallk |
| This is about a path where a bride walk with her father. Her virginity is not an issue, of course. | ||
| マスコミ | mass komi (communication) | mass media |
| トランプ | trump | playing cards |
| ベッドタウン | bed town | commuter/bedroom town |
| ドクターストップ | doctor-stop | the doctor’s order to stop the fight |
| ハイ/オールド ミス | high/old miss | spinster |
| ラブホテル | love hotel | hotel for couples for short stays (mainly for a couple of hours) |
| マイペース | my-pace | doing things at one’s own pace |
| ワンパターン | one-pattern | one-ideaed/repeating the same pattern |
| シンボルマーク | symbol mark | symbol |
| テーブルスピーチ | table speach | speaches at parties |
| タイトルバック | title back | credits |
| This is about the last part of movies where they show many names after most of audiences are out of the theater. | ||
| アルバイター | arbeiter | people who do part-time job |
| Part-time job is called “ARUBAITO” which is from German word “arbeit.” | ||
| フリーター | free-ter?? | people who do part-time job only/freelance worker |
| ヤンキー | yankee | punk |
| Not that the Japanese think Yankees are punks, of cource. | ||
| ハネムーン・ベビー | honeymoon baby | baby conceived during a honeymoon |
| ゲームセンター | game center | video game arcade |
| ライブステージ | live stage | performance |
| ライブハウス | live house | bar with live music/performance |
| ボーカル | vocal | vocalist |
| NG | NG | bloopers |
| Such as the one shown at the end of “A Bugs Life”. | ||
| キッチン・ペーパー | kitchen paper | paper towel |
| エネルギッシュ | energisch | energetic |
| The word energisch is a German word. It can’t be used in English. | ||
| ミラー・ボール | mirror ball | disco ball |
| ツー・ショット | two-shot | the situation where you are only with your boy/girl friend |
| ユニーク | unique | strange/interesting |
| ゴージャス | gorgeous | posh/luxurious |
| ブレイク（する） | break | become a hit |
| FC | FC | franchise chain |
| カメラマン（写真家） | cameraman | photographer |