kaizen

From Japanese 改善 (kaizen かいぜん), from Middle Chinese 改善 (kój-dʒjén) (compare Mandarin gǎishàn 改善), from Old Chinese 改善 (*qˁəʔ-ɡenʔ "to correct errors"), from 改 ("to change") + 善 ("good").

Introduced to English in 1959 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente in his book Japanese Etiquette and Ethics in Business.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaɪˌzɛn/

kaizen (countable and uncountable, plural kaizens)

1. A Japanese business practice of continuous improvement in performance and productivity.
2. (by extension) Continuous improvement generally. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

kaizen (third-person singular simple present kaizens, present participle kaizening, simple past and past participle kaizened)

1. (transitive, business) To apply continuous improvement to (a task, or the worker who performs it).

• quality circle

kaizen

1. Rōmaji transcription of かいぜん