背広
Meaning in Englishmen’s suit, business suit
Animated kanji stroke order
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Word context
What it means
背広 (sebiro) means a men's Western-style suit, typically a matching jacket and trousers worn for business or formal occasions; it refers to the tailored two- or three-piece outfit commonly used as professional attire in Japan and conveys a neat, conservative dress standard.
Main meanings
- 1. Refers specifically to a men's tailored suit as an outfit distinct from casual Western clothes.
- 2. Can be used to mean the suit jacket alone in some contexts, especially when emphasizing appearance.
- 3. Used contrastively with traditional Japanese dress to indicate Western/formal clothing styles.
How to use it
Used in formal and neutral contexts to describe what someone is wearing (business, ceremonies, interviews, funerals, weddings) and in media or conversation about dress codes; the term can sound slightly old-fashioned compared with スーツ (suutsu), so younger speakers or casual contexts often prefer the katakana form while professional or written Japanese still accept 背広 (sebiro) comfortably.
Variants and close terms
- スーツ (suutsu) — suit; modern, common katakana synonym.
- 礼服 (reifuku) — formal/ceremonial attire, more formal than an everyday business suit.
- 着物 (kimono) — traditional Japanese clothing, often presented as an alternative to Western suits.
Composition
- 背 — means "back," referring to the body’s rear or the act of carrying; used here as the first character of the compound.
- 広 — means "wide" or "broad," suggesting breadth or spaciousness.
- The two characters are combined as an ateji spelling: they represent the pronunciation sebiro rather than a literal semantic compound, and together serve to label the Western-style suit in Japanese.
Origin
The concept and term became common during the Meiji era (late 19th to early 20th century) as Western clothing was adopted in Japan; Western tailors and imported garments popularized the suit as modern business wear, and the word entered Japanese usage to name that new, foreign-style attire.
Word class
noun (名詞)