Etymology

onsen

O1N1S1E1N1

Today it means: A (Japanese) hot spring. Full definition →

Japanese 温泉 ← Middle Chinese 溫泉
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The story

  1. Middle Chinese · derived from溫泉“hot springs”
  2. Japanese · derived from温泉
  3. English todayonsen

From Japanese 温泉 (onsen), from Middle Chinese 溫泉 ('won dzjwen, “hot springs”), from 溫 /温 (wēn, “warm”) + 泉 (quán, “spring[s]”). Compare the modern Mandarin pronunciation 溫泉 /温泉 (wēnquán).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.