Sushi entered English in 1875, first in the compound sushi ya, "a seller of sushi." Like futon, tsunami and karaoke, it shows the shape that makes Japanese borrowings so easy to spot: simple consonant-vowel syllables with no clusters, so the word passes into English essentially unaltered.
There is a common misunderstanding embedded in the English use. The Japanese word is said to refer originally to the vinegared rice, not to the raw fish that usually accompanies it — which is why sushi and sashimi are different things, and why sushi need not involve raw fish at all. English borrowed the word attached to the most visually striking part of the dish, which is a normal thing for borrowings to do: the name follows what the borrower noticed, not what the donor meant.
sushi (n.) as a Japanese word in English, 1875 (in the compound sushi ya , "seller of sushi.") Japanese dish based on small clumps of boiled rice with fish. It is said originally to refer to the vinegared rice, not the raw fish that commonly garnishes it. also from 1875
sushi came in through Later and wider borrowings, and its spelling follows that family's conventions.
How that family writes these sounds
| no consonant clusters, every syllable open | Japanese: write it exactly as it soundstsunami, sushi, karaoke, futon |
What gives it away on the page
| no consonant clusters, every syllable open | Japanese.tsunami, sushi, karaoke, futon, tycoon |
Later and wider borrowings in the spelling guide · guess another word's family