Japanese Word "Muda" (2024)

Name: Pat

Country andRegion: Michigan

NativeLanguage: English

Student orTeacher: Student

Age or Grade:Senior

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Subject ofQuestion: Japanese

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Question:

What does "muda" mean in Japanese?
Apparently, there areseven different meanings.

Dear Pat:

Hello.I am writing you on behalf ofAsk A Linguistics Tutor in response to your question. Well, I don't know what backgroundyou have in Japanese, but I can give you some basic information on theword muda. According to the Merriam Webster Japanese-Englishdictionary, muda as an noun means 'uselessness, waste, futility,no good, no avail, [in] vain,' and 'wasting time and labor.' Itscharacters are composed of first mu, meaning 'not' or 'nothing,'and da, meaning 'horse load; pack horse; sending by horses.'

Considering the reading of this word, it is evidently a Chineseloan-word, which must have come from the idea in Chinese culture that ahorse without a load on its back is useless.