gaman

American  

[gah-mahn] / ˈgɑˌmɑn /

noun

1. patient endurance of hardship or difficulty.

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verb (used without object)

1. to endure hardship or difficulty with patience.

Example Sentences

Traditional Japanese education puts a premium on cultivating grit — known as gaman.

From New York Times • Feb. 25, 2023

Konno translates the Japanese term gaman which means "to endure seemingly unbearable hardship with dignity".

From BBC • Feb. 20, 2022

It is the Japanese way to face adversity with a simple appeal to gaman, which translates more or less as "hang tough and don't complain."

From Time Magazine Archive

Perhaps anguish over Japan's decay will push people beyond gaman and put wind at the back of radicals like Ozawa and other reformers.

From Time Magazine Archive

The ulterior derivation is obscure, but philologists have identified it with the Goth. gaman, companion or companionship; if this be so, it is compounded of the prefix ga-, with, and the root seen in “man.”

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 4 "G" to "Gaskell, Elizabeth" by Various