Nintendo (English)

Where does "Nintendo" come from?

The English word 'Nintendo' is borrowed from Japanese 'Nintendō'[1]. According to Hiroshi Yamauchi, this company name is derived from the phrase 'un o ten ni makaseru', which literally translates to 'leave luck to heaven'[2]. Other sources suggest that the character for 'ten', meaning 'heaven', is actually taken from 'tengu', a creature in Japanese folklore connected to gambling, creating an interpretation of the name as a 'temple of trusted cards' due to the company's early production of hanafuda cards[2].

Open questions

• Alternative derivations link the first character of the company name to tengu and gambling rather than the phrase meaning leave luck to heaven. [2]

Full etymology tree

• Nintendo (English), 'A Japanese multinational company that develops, publishes and releases both video games and video game consoles.'
  • borrowed 任天堂 (Nintendō) (Japanese), 'Nintendo (video game company)'

Descendants and derived words

• GCN (English)
• N64 (English)
• NES (English)
• NES (English)
• NGC (English)
• Nintendinitis (English)
• Nintendium (English)
• Nintendocore (English)
• Nintendo generation (English)
• Nintendo hard (English)
• Nintendo thumb (English)
• Nintendrone (English)

Sources

1. Nintendo (English) - Wiktionary
2. 任天堂 (Nintendō) (Japanese) - Wiktionary

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris