kintsugi means the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold or similar material, highlighting the cracks instead of disguising them. It carries an Arena rating of 1970, earned across 62 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, kintsugi ranks #15 of 42,749 for Qualifying, #27 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #264 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #541 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words.
kintsugi is pronounced /kɪntˈsuːɡi/.
Why “kintsugi” is a great word
The Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold or similar material, highlighting the cracks instead of disguising them. An unadapted borrowing from Japanese 金継ぎ (kintsugi), from 金 (kin, "gold") + 継ぎ (tsugi, "repair, joinery"), literally meaning "golden repair" or "golden joinery," first recorded in English use 2005–10. Unlike "kintsukuroi" (which emphasizes the act or result of mending) or "restoration" (which seeks to erase damage and return an object to a pristine, pre-rupture state), kintsugi is a practice of luminous addition. It is the thin river of gold catching afternoon light across a tea bowl's fracture, the deliberate choice to make the wound more beautiful than the original whole, and the quiet understanding that a life is given character by its repairs. The philosophy is not about loss, but about the undeniable, precious fact of having been broken.
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Japanese 金継ぎ (kintsugi, literally “golden repair, golden joinery”).
noun
- The Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold or similar material, highlighting the cracks instead of disguising them.e.g.“In rehearsals here the director, Oliver Butler, has brought up kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken objects with powdered gold or other colors to accentuate the cracks.” — 2015 September 16, Patrick Healy, “For Christopher Shinn, Confronting Death Brings a New Play to Life”, in The New York Times:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- kintsukuroi 92% match — The Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold or similar material, highlighting the cracks instead of disguising them. vs kintsugi →
- koftgari 50% match — Ornamental work produced by inlaying steel with gold; a variety of damascening common in Indian art. vs kintsugi →
- cracklin 49% match — A form of chinaware that is purposely cracked in the kiln by way of ornamentation. vs kintsugi →
- kakiemon 49% match — Japanese porcelain wares featuring enamel decoration. vs kintsugi →
- bonseki 48% match — The ancient Japanese art of creating miniature landscapes on black lacquer trays using sand and pebbles. vs kintsugi →
- lacquerwork 47% match — Artistic or decorative work made with lacquer. vs kintsugi →
- kuft 46% match — An Indian form of inlaid work on steel or iron, by damascening and encrusting gold on the metalwork. vs kintsugi →
- tsutsumu 46% match — The Japanese art of wrapping items in an attractive and appropriate manner. vs kintsugi →