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Used since the Northern and Southern dynasties. To avoid using the character 佛, 某 (mǒu, “someone”) is used instead; the character is ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意): 亻 + 厶, where 厶 is a variant form of 某.
From Old Japanese, most likely from Proto-Koreanic*Pwutukye, hence related to modern Korean부처(Bucheo), Manchuᡶᡠᠴᡳᡥᡳ(fucihi); see the Proto-Korean entry for more. The word was presumably disseminated by the Baekje people of southwestern Korea, who first introduced Buddhism to Japan. The first two syllables are ultimately from Sanskritबुद्ध(buddhá), via Middle Chinese佛陀 (MC bjut da) or some similar Sinitic form. Thomas Pellard speculates that the final element is an ancient Koreanic word for "king; lord".
The more traditional explanation still given in Japanese dictionaries is that the final ke element might be the Chinese-derived suffix 気(ke, “spirit”), but a Koreanic explanation is more plausible.
^ Vovin, Alexander (2006) “Why Manchu and Jurchen Look So Un-Tungusic”, in Alessandra Pozzi, Juha Janhunen and Michael Weiers, editors, Tumen jalafun secen aku. Manchu Studies in Honour of Giovanni Stary, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, pages 255-266
^ Pellard, Thomas (2014) “The Awakened Lord: The Name of the Buddha in East Asia”, in Journal of the American Oriental Society, →DOI