As a dictionary meaning of cosplay, we can say "dressed game". It can be said that this term was coined by one of the authors of My Anime magazine.
The word cosplay, which emerged with the combination of the English equivalents of the words costume and play (costume + play), is not a concept that came out after anime, contrary to popular belief. Cosplay is born as a result of the synthesis of American and Japanese styles, in short, East-West.
In the 1930s, cosplay gave its first signal when Forrest James Ackerman attended an event with his lover in America, wearing specially designed clothes to emphasize the meaning of the day. This event, where the first cosplay took place, is the meeting of the World Science Fiction Convention, which is known as Worldcon and is still active today.
Forrest James Ackerman (November 24, 1916 – December 4, 2008) was an American magazine editor; science fiction writer and literary agent; a founder of science fiction fandom; a leading expert on science fiction, horror, and fantasy films; a prominent advocate of the Esperanto language; and one of the world's most avid collectors of genre books and film memorabilia. He was based in Los Angeles, California.
Cosplay may have made its first footsteps in the west in the thirties, but such a voice was still unheard in the east. Until events like Worldcon in America started in Japan as well. The beginning of science fiction activities in Japan dates back to the 1960s. It will take another 10 years for there to be a stir about cosplay in these science fiction events, and cosplay-related meetings will take place in the 1970s.
These small steps, heard separately from East and West, are getting bigger and bigger, and Japanese-designed characters are starting to be cosplayed as Western sci-fi fans discover manga that serves as the sketch of animes that are the cornerstone of the Japanese film industry. This is the last big stone that will introduce the concept of cosplay internationally and cause it to take its current form. After the waves emitted by small stones in the sea, cosplay with the waves emitted by this stone officially underlines its existence with the “cons” established especially for it.