Katakana words with Kanji. How did that happen?


Some words are written with katakana, but also have kanji. For example:

  * コーヒー 珈琲
  * ページ 頁

How did this happen? They are loanwords, but no doubt had Japanese equivalents
before these variants were imported. Is that the case? And are these original
words now forgotten?




> had Japanese equivalents before the English variants were imported

Coffee is not native to Japan, and did not have an equivalent; that kanji
sequence is [ateji](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ateji).

"Page" is that kanji, but it's properly pronounced 「けつ」 in sequences.




> had Japanese equivalents before the English variants were imported

Coffee is not native to Japan, and did not have an equivalent; that kanji
sequence is [ateji](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ateji).

"Page" is that kanji, but it's properly pronounced 「けつ」 in sequences.

