【 ビューラー・byūrā 】eyelash curler
The root of most カタカナ words come from another language, but where does ビューラー originate?
ビューラー is a trademark that became a generic term for an eyelash curler. The original trademark was called 「ビウラ」(Spelled “BEAULA” derived from “ビューティーカーラー” beauty curler) registered by a phramaceutical company called 啓芳堂 (Keihoudou) in 1930. The company lost almost everything after the bombing of Tokyo and sold the commercial right to a cosmetics company.
Today, the manufacturer for the cosmetics company called 沼澤製作所 (Numazawa Seisakusho) holds 70-80% domestic market share (30% international market share) of eyelash curlers, produces 20,000 curlers a day (which includes OEM for brands like Shiseido), and sells 2 million eyelash curlers a year!
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まつ毛(げ) (matsuge) = eyelash
まぶた (mabuta) = eyelid
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「イタッ！」
(ita)
Owww!
「どうしたの？」
(doushitano)
What happened?
「ビューラーでまぶたを挟(はさ)んじゃった！」
(byūrā de mabuta wo hasanjyatta)
I pinched my eyelid with the eyelash curler!
「あらら」
(arara)
Oh, ouch.
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Resources: Wikipedia, Keihoudou Pharmaceutical Co., and here
