is a term of Japanese origin that has been used by environmentalists. The term in Japanese conveys a sense of regret over waste; the exclamation "" can translate as "What a waste!" Japanese environmentalists have used the term to encourage people to "reduce, reuse and recycle", and Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai used the term at the United Nations as a slogan to promote environmental protection. Etymology, usage, and translation Kōjien, widely considered the most authoritative Japanese dictionary, lists three definitions for the word (classical Japanese terminal form ): (1) inexpedient or reprehensible towards a god, buddha, noble or the like; (2) awe-inspiring and unmerited/undeserved, used to express thanks; (3) an expression of regret at the full value of something not being put to good use. In contemporary Japanese, is most commonly used to indicate that something is being discarded needlessly, or to express regret at such a fact. , then a professor at Nagano University, noted that the definition (3) in Kōjien was the one used most frequently by modern Japanese. The second sense is seen in Japanese newspapers when they refer to members of the imperial family as having been present at such-and-such an event, not necessarily implying wastefulness but rather gratitude or awe. , another Japanese dictionary, gives a similar ordering of these definitions. Hasegawa traces this increase in the frequency of meaning (3) to a historical semantic shift in which the original meaning, meaning (1), became less prominent. Citing the Kyoto University Japanese literature scholar , Hasegawa states that the word originated as slang in the Kamakura period, and that by the mid 15th century had perhaps already acquired the meanings of (2) and (3). Two frequently-cited early examples of usages of , given in both Kōjien and Daigenkai, are the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Taiheiki. A form of the word, (モタイナ) appears in the late-14th or early-15th century Noh play , apparently in a sense close to (1). The word in resembles a Japanese negative ("there is no "), but may have originally been used as an emphatic ("tremendous "). itself is a noun appearing as such in, for example, the dictionary , which dates to 1444. Daigenkai gives as an alternate reading of the word, and it appears written with the kanji , , , , or . It means (i) the shape/form of a thing or (ii) something that is, or the fact of