Engrish

English

a poorly translated 縁むすび守 (love talisman)

Etymology

From the mispronunciation of the word English common to Japanese speakers, who have difficulty distinguishing /l/ ~ /r/ sounds. The Japanese transliteration of the word English, イングリッシュ (Ingurisshu) is often used for teaching purposes. In that word, /ɾ/ (romanized as r) is pronounced instead of the English /l/.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ĭng′grĭsh; IPA^(key): /ˈɪŋ.ɡɹɪʃ/
• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada, Australia, Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈɪŋ.ɡɹɪʃ/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈəŋ.ɡɹəʃ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪŋɡɹɪʃ
• Hyphenation: Eng‧rish

Proper noun

Engrish

1. (sometimes derogatory) Ungrammatical, unorthographical, or nonsensical English of the kind found in East Asia, notably in Japan.

   Hyponyms: Janglish, Japanese English, Japanglish, Japlish; (rare) Nihonglish

   • 2003, Bruce L. Russell, Channelling Henry, page 129:

     'Why you not teach Engrish more? I must aspeak^[sic] Engrish.' The Chelsea's resident mad painter was angry at the way Jeremy had been ignoring him.

See also

• Chinglish (“Chinese English”)
• Thesaurus:English language

Anagrams

• hersing, hingers, negrish, rehings