日本語の国名

Today we are going to look at a few country names, as they are rendered in Chinese characters. 国（くに、こく；kuni, koku）is country. To identify a country, you can often just place its kanji, or Chinese character, in front of that. (Katakana, the Japanese syllabary for foreign words, can always be used, and some countries only have a katakana rendering.)

中国（ちゅうごく、chugoku）＝ China, the "middle" country or kingdom, whence all comes
韓国（かんこく、kankoku）＝ Korea
英国（えいこく、eikoku) ＝ England, the "hero" country
米国（べいこく、beikoku）＝ USA, the "rice" country

Other countries are frequently abbreviated to one character when referred to in the press. At right in parentheses is the original.

印（いん、in）＝ India （印度）
仏（ふつ、ぶつ, futsu, butsu）＝ France（仏蘭西）
伊（い、i）＝ Italy（伊太利亜）
独（どく、doku）＝ Germany
西（にし、nishi）＝　Spain　（西班牙）
欄　（らん、ran) = Holland　（阿蘭陀）
加（か、ka）＝　Canada　（加奈陀）

And let' not forget:

日本（にほん、にっぽん、nihon, nippon）＝ Japan

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