According to the time of its appearance in the Japanese language, orientalists propose to divide gairaigo into three classes.

1)Represented today by only a small number of words, formed during the period of early contacts with Europeans, in the 16th and 18th centuries. It is usually borrowed from Portuguese and Dutch languages, which is explained by the peculiarities of historical development. In the end 16th ~ beginning 17th century the Japanese were in contact with Portuguese missionaries and traders, and during the period of "closure of Japan" (鎖国 /sakoku/), which fell on the beginning of In the 17th and 19th centuries, Japan had limited contacts only with the Netherlands. These borrowings make up a specific vocabulary for the designation of new material cultures for the Japanese: パン /pan/ bread (from Portuguese), たばこ /tabako/ tobacco (Port. tabaco), シャボン /shyabon/ soap (Port. sabao), ビール /bi:ru / beer (from Dutch), コーヒー /ko:hi:/ coffee (from Dutch), ガラス /garasu/ glass (from Dutch).

2)Is also related to the historical development of Japan. After the restoration of Meiji in 1868 and the opening of the country, a large number of foreign words entered the Japanese language, which were especially actively borrowed in the period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A characteristic feature of the borrowing process in this period is a large number of languages from which words come into Japanese: American English, British English, German, French, Italian languages. For example, words were borrowed from the German language in that period: アルバイト/arubaito/ part-time work (German Arbeit). From the French language, the words came to Japanese: ズボン/zubon/ pants. From British to Japanese came the word ポスト /posuto/ mailbox (English, post). The words were also borrowed from the Italian language: カルボナーラ /karubona:ra/ carbonara (Italian carbonara).

3)Is the most numerous. It includes borrowings acquired in Japanese after the Second World War. The replenishment of this class with new lexemes continues to this day, as the Japanese language actively interacts with other languages. The peculiarity of gairigo, which came to the Japanese language after the war, is that the absolute majority of them were borrowed from the American language, for example: ラッキー /rakki:/ lucky (English lucky). A much smaller amount of new borrowed vocabulary is new borrowings from Chinese, Korean, etc., for example: ラーメン /ra:men/ /Chinese noodles, カルビ /karubi/ karubi (Korean brisket dish).

What gairaigo do you know? Share in the comments!