It is one of the three main sources of Japanese words, along with "yamato kotoba" (kanji: 大和言葉, hiragana: やまとことば), also known as "wago" (kanji: 和語, hiragana: わご), or native Japanese words, and "gairaigo" (kanji: 外来語, hiragana: がいらいご), or loanwords borrowed from languages other than Chinese (especially English since the post-WWII era).