keiretsu

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 系列(けいれつ) (keiretsu, literally “system, series”), from Middle Chinese 繫 (ɣèj, “attached”) +‎ 列 (ljet, “set, row”) (compare Mandarin 系列 (xìliè, “series, set”)).

Noun

keiretsu (plural keiretsus or keiretsu)

1. A set of Japanese companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings.
   • 2011 August 1, Steve Clemons, “China's Internal Pluralism Is Nothing to Cheer About”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     Japan's keiretsu—or families of firms in large scratch-each-other's back networks—supported this or that faction in the LDP, producing a highly successful, structurally corrupt model of economic development that showed remarkable resilience through Japan's high growth economic period.

See also

• chaebol
• zaibatsu

Japanese

Romanization

keiretsu

1. Rōmaji transcription of けいれつ