"The nomenclature for each of their generations who are citizens or long-term residents of countries other than Japan, used by Japanese Americans and other nationals of Japanese descent are explained here; they are formed by combining one of the Japanese numbers corresponding to the generation with the Japanese word for generation ("sei" 世).The Japanese American communities have themselves distinguished their members with terms like "Issei", "Nisei", and "Sansei", which describe the first, second, and third generations of immigrants.