Chinese loanwords in Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and beyond

The same word in four languages

Each language read the Chinese characters in its own way, so the words are the same and the sounds are cousins⁴:

The words are most often the formal and the learned ones, the way English took its long words from Latin: in everyday Japanese speech only about 18 to 20% of the words are Chinese¹, and Vietnamese has more of them in technical writing than in talk³.

Numbers: one, two, three

Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese each have a second set of numbers taken from Chinese, beside their own⁴. Korean uses its Chinese set for dates, money, minutes, addresses and phone numbers, and its own for counting things, people and hours⁵. Thai counts with Chinese numbers: two to ten all go back to Chinese, two (song) from 双, “a pair”⁶.

Vietnamese counts with its own numbers (một, hai, ba); its Chinese set lives on in words like thứ nhất, “first”. Cantonese and Korean kept the endings Mandarin lost: 十 is sap6 and sip, 六 luk6 and yuk.

沙发是一个外来词。

外wài来lái词cí

Noun

loanword

Also written 外來詞

False friends: same characters, other meanings

Some words kept their characters and changed their meaning on the way⁷:

• 爱人: in mainland Chinese àirén is your husband or wife; in Japanese aijin is a lover or a mistress, and in Korean aein a girlfriend or boyfriend.
• 手纸: shǒuzhǐ is toilet paper in Chinese; Japanese tegami (手紙) is a letter.
• 大丈夫: dàzhàngfu is a real man in Chinese; Japanese daijōbu is “it’s fine”, “I’m OK”.
• 汽车: qìchē is a car in Chinese; Japanese kisha (汽車) is a steam train, and Korean gicha a train.
• 勉强: miǎnqiǎng is reluctant, barely enough, in Chinese; Japanese benkyō (勉強) is to study.

Words Japan made and China took back

In the late 1800s Japan coined words from Chinese characters for ideas from Europe, and many went back into Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese⁸: 哲学 (zhéxué, philosophy) and 电话 (diànhuà, telephone) were made in Japan. Others were old Chinese words given a new meaning: 经济 (jīngjì) meant “governing the state” before Japanese narrowed it to “economy” and Chinese took that meaning back⁹. Some of these are disputed: scholars have found a number of them in Chinese and Western dictionaries made in China before Japan used them⁸.

Tagalog, Indonesian and Malay: words from Hokkien

Most Chinese words in Tagalog came from Hokkien, the language of the Chinese who settled in Manila, and most are about food and the family¹⁰:

Indonesian and Malay took mie (面, noodles), lumpia, teko (茶壶, teapot), kuli (苦力, coolie) and the slang gua and lu, “me” and “you”, from Hokkien 我 and 你; almost all their Chinese words are Hokkien or Hakka¹¹.

Words Chinese borrowed

Chinese took words in too⁹:

• From the Silk Road: 葡萄 (pútáo, grape), 石榴 (shíliú, pomegranate) and 狮子 (shīzi, lion), mostly with Persian roots.
• From Buddhism: 佛 (Fó, Buddha) and 菩萨 (Púsà, bodhisattva), from Sanskrit and Pali.
• From the north: 胡同 (hútòng, a Beijing lane) and 琵琶 (pípá, the Chinese lute).
• From English: 沙发 (shāfā, sofa), 咖啡 (kāfēi, coffee), and online 粉丝 (fěnsī, fans), 黑客 (hēikè, hacker) and 博客 (bókè, blog).

Chinese prefers to build a word from its own parts: “telephone” was first 德律风 (délǜfēng), said like the English, and gave way to 电话, “electric speech”. Names are written by sound, so Paris is 巴黎 (Bālí) and Israel 以色列 (Yǐsèliè)⁹.

What it means for learning Chinese

If you speak Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese, you already know thousands of Chinese words; learn the Mandarin sound and the tones and they are yours. If you are learning Chinese first, each word you learn is a head start on the other three. English words that came from Chinese, like tea and kung fu, are in English words from Chinese, and the Chinese words that sound like English, with their sound, are in loanwords in Chinese.

The fastest way to fluency is to meet these words in real Chinese: the Library has graded stories from HSK 1 with every word explained, and the extension gives the meaning and pinyin of any Chinese word on any page or video.

Questions

How many Japanese words come from Chinese?

About 60% of the words in a modern Japanese dictionary are Sino-Japanese (kango), but only about 18 to 20% of the words in everyday speech, since the Chinese words are mostly the formal ones.

How many Korean words come from Chinese?

About 57% of the words in the Standard Korean Language Dictionary are Sino-Korean; estimates run from 30% to 70%. All Korean surnames and most given names are Sino-Korean.

Is Vietnamese related to Chinese?

Not by family: Vietnamese is an Austroasiatic language. But between a third and 70% of its words came from Chinese, about 40% in Hoàng Phê’s dictionary, and it was written in Chinese characters until the 20th century.

What are Sino-Korean numbers?

The numbers Korean took from Chinese: il, i, sam, sa, o, yuk, chil, pal, gu, sip, like Mandarin yī, èr, sān, sì, wǔ, liù, qī, bā, jiǔ, shí. They are used for dates, money, minutes, addresses and phone numbers; native Korean numbers count things and hours.

Which Tagalog words come from Chinese?

Mostly food and family words from Hokkien: pancit, lumpia, siopao, siomai, toyo (soy sauce), tokwa (tofu), ate (elder sister) and kuya (elder brother).

Sources

Checked on 27 October 2026. Prices and features change; tell us if one has.

1. Wikipedia: Sino-Japanese vocabulary (about 60% of dictionary words, 18–20% of speech)
2. Wikipedia: Sino-Korean vocabulary (about 57% in the Standard Korean Language Dictionary)
3. Wikipedia: Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary (a third to 70%; about 40% in Hoàng Phê’s dictionary)
4. Wikipedia: Sino-Xenic vocabularies (the numbers in each language)
5. Wikipedia: Korean numerals (where Sino-Korean numbers are used)
6. Wikipedia: Thai numerals (2 to 10 from Chinese)
7. Wiktionary: 愛人, 手紙, 大丈夫, 汽車 and 勉強 in Chinese, Japanese and Korean
8. Wikipedia: Wasei-kango, Chinese words made in Japan (哲学, 電話)
9. Wikipedia: Chinese language, loanwords and modern borrowings
10. Wikipedia: Tagalog words of Hokkien origin (after Chan-Yap, 1980)
11. Wikipedia: Indonesian words from Chinese