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Saw this on a charger I bought online and was really perplexed. What foreign
word does it represent? "concentric"? What does that have to do with
electrical outlet and where did it come from?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2013-01-20T09:49:47.727
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question
etymology loanwords daily-life
How did コンセント come to be used for an "electrical outlet"?
It appears that コンセント [derives from "concentric
plug"](http://www.jewa.or.jp/qa/receptacle.html#003), as plugs were round
(concentric) in early 20th century England.

[![コンセント](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZY6jT.gif)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZY6jT.gif)

[source](http://www.jewa.or.jp/qa/img/r003.gif)
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2013-01-20T10:06:34.317
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It is 和製英語. Sometime around the 1920s, employees at 東京電燈会社 created a device
which consisted of a plug and outlet. This was called コンセントプラグ "concentric
plug". Outlets without the plugs are now referred to as コンセント. Needless to
say, English "concentric" does not make much sense.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-20T10:09:14.093
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answer