Honshu

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The largest and most populous island of Japan, located in the central part of the Japanese archipelago
2. Japan's biggest island, situated centrally within the nation and home to major cities including Tokyo and Osaka
3. The principal island of Japan, comprising the majority of the country's land area and population

Etymology: Honshu is the largest of Japan's four main islands, and its name is simply a description: "main island." The Japanese compound "本州" (Honshū) joins 本 (hon), meaning "main" or "origin," with 州 (shū), meaning "province" or "island region." Both characters were borrowed from Chinese, where they trace back to Middle Chinese forms, so the name is a plain Japanese construction built from Chinese-derived elements. The word is a proper noun rather than a term that moved into everyday English vocabulary. It names a specific island, which accounts for its direct, descriptive character: Japanese speakers needed a name that set this island apart from the smaller islands around it, and "main island" did exactly that.