リフォーム

1899 is an early printed point for リフォーム: Seisenban Nihon Kokugo Daijiten cites Uchida Roan's Shakuhyo Reigo with レフォームされて. The source is English reform, a word for improving or changing a system, organization, law, behavior, or condition. Digital Daijisen defines the Japanese verb noun リフォーム as adding work to improve or remake something. Cambridge gives English examples such as reforming an electoral system or economy, not repairing a room. In Meiji writing, reform could describe literature, politics, or social improvement. Japanese later applied リフォーム to clothes and buildings, and postwar housing businesses made the house sense especially common. Dictionary examples now place 洋服の仕立て直し and 建物の改装 inside the same entry. Related modern terms include 改装, リノベーション, and リモデル. The housing field also contrasts リフォーム with 原状回復 and renovation. Today Japanese リフォーム usually means home renovation or remodeling: replacing a kitchen, changing a bathroom, or repairing an older apartment. English "reform" is different; it is used for tax reform, school reform, or personal reform, not usually a kitchen. For a house, English uses "renovate" or "remodel." Japanese リノベーション often suggests a larger value-adding update, while リフォーム can be smaller repair work. Example: キッチンをリフォームする.