コンビニ

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. コンビニで弁当を買いました。▶ —
   I bought a lunchbox at the convenience store.
2. 駅の近くにコンビニがあります。▶ —
   There is a convenience store near the station.
3. コンビニは24時間開いています。▶ —
   Convenience stores are open 24 hours.

Collocations

Mnemonic

コンビニ — konbini, a loanword from English "convenience store". Written in katakana. Japanese did not take the whole phrase ── コンビニエンスストア runs long, so the language sliced off the first four syllables and kept コンビニ. This habit of clipping long loanwords is how Japanese tames a borrowed word to fit its own mouth. And what コンビニ names is no mere shop but a piece of city infrastructure ── open 24 hours, handling parcels and utility-bill payments alike. Korean "pyeonuijeom" and Chinese 便利店 point to the same urban scene. But those two Sino neighbours built fresh compounds from characters, while Japanese clipped the English and kept it in katakana.

Quick check

1. Which long katakana word was コンビニ clipped from?

   • コンビニエンスストア (convenience store)
   • コンビネーション (combination)
   • コンビニストア (not the real source form)
   • コンビニエンス (only the first word)