Kango

//ˈkɑŋɡoʊ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A jackhammer.
  2. 2
    A Sino-Japanese word, a Japanese word of Chinese origin or a Japanese word coined along Chinese lines.
  3. 3
    Alternative form of kago, a suspended Japanese sedan chair. alt-of, alternative, uncommon

    "He crawled out of the kango, but could not rise off his hands and knees quickly. His servants ran away, and one man cut off his head; six or seven others hacked at his body."

Synonyms

All synonyms
norimono

Example

More examples

"He crawled out of the kango, but could not rise off his hands and knees quickly. His servants ran away, and one man cut off his head; six or seven others hacked at his body."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Originally a trademarked name, now sometimes used for any type of jackhammer regardless of manufacturer.

Etymology 2

From Japanese 漢(かん)語(ご) (kango), from Middle Chinese 漢語 (MC xanH ngjoX, “Han, Chinese + speech, language”), compare modern Mandarin 漢語／汉语 (Hànyǔ, “Chinese language”).

Related phrases

sino japanese

More for "kango"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.