Sino-Vietnamese word from 國際, composed of 國 (“country”) and 際 (“between”), from Japanese 国際 (kokusai, “international”), clipped from Chinese 各國交際／各国交际 (các quốc giao tế, literally “intercourse between countries”),[1][2] calqued from English diplomatic intercourse in the Chinese translation of Elements of International Law. 国際 (kokusai) was used to translate "international" sometime in 1897 Meiji Japan. The original Chinese word for "international" was evidently 萬國／万国 (vạn quốc, literally “myriad countries”)[2] as in the Chinese title 萬國公法／万国公法 (vạn quốc công pháp, literally “The Public Law of a Myriad Countries”), or simply 各國／各国 (các quốc, literally “countries”). Another Meiji coinage for "diplomatic intercourse" was Japanese 外国交際 (gaikoku kōsai, ngoại quốc giao tế, literally “intercourse with foreign countries”), which was clipped into 外交 (gaikō, ngoại giao).