Why does 日本語{にほんご} mean Japanese?


Google translate says 日本語 means Japanese.

It also says:

  * 語 means "word"
  * 本 means "this"
  * 日 means "day"

So how do you get "Japanese" out of these three kanji?




  * 語 is the suffix which means 'language'. Unlike English which needs two different nouns for a country and its language, in Japanese, you can simply add 語 after the name of a country to mean the language spoken in that country. (e.g. ドイツ = Germany, ドイツ語 = German, フランス = France, フランス語 = French)
  * 日本 is one word made of two characters, meaning 'Japan'. Etymologically [it can be further analyzed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Japan#Nihon_and_Nippon) (日 (Sun) + 本 (origin) => the rising Sun), but no one cares about that in everyday life.




  * 語 is the suffix which means 'language'. Unlike English which needs two different nouns for a country and its language, in Japanese, you can simply add 語 after the name of a country to mean the language spoken in that country. (e.g. ドイツ = Germany, ドイツ語 = German, フランス = France, フランス語 = French)
  * 日本 is one word made of two characters, meaning 'Japan'. Etymologically [it can be further analyzed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Japan#Nihon_and_Nippon) (日 (Sun) + 本 (origin) => the rising Sun), but no one cares about that in everyday life.

