satori means A sudden inexpressible feeling of spiritual awakening or enlightenment, the result of meditation and study. It carries an Arena rating of 1873, earned across 65 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, satori ranks #370 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #781 of 17,106 for Most Storied Words, #1,725 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #1,941 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words.
satori is pronounced /səˈtɔːɹi/.
Why “satori” is a great word
A sudden, inexpressible feeling of spiritual awakening or enlightenment, especially in Zen Buddhism, and a mutant gene in fruit flies that causes homosexual courtship behavior in males. Borrowed from Japanese 悟り (satori, 'understanding; enlightenment'), from 悟る (satoru, 'to perceive, comprehend, come to enlightenment'), itself from Middle Chinese 悟 (nguH, 'to become aware, realize, awaken'). First attested in English in 1727; the biological sense was coined by Japanese scientist Daisuke Yamamoto in 1991, based on the Japanese term. Unlike 'epiphany'—a sudden, often secular insight—or 'bodhi'—the perfect, final enlightenment of a Buddha—satori is a specifically Zen, non-dualistic flash of awakening that can be initial or transient. It is the teacup seen truly for the first time, the pebble's absolute weight in the palm, the genetic compulsion of a fly circling another—a momentary crack in reality through which the whole light pours, before the mind hurriedly repairs the wall.
Etymology
Borrowed from Japanese 悟り (satori, “understanding; (Buddhism) enlightenment, satori”), from 悟る (satoru, “to perceive; to comprehend, understand; to come to enlightenment”), from Middle Chinese 悟 (nguH, “to become aware, apprehend, realize; to awaken”) (modern Mandarin 悟 (wù)), used to translate Pali bodhi (“supreme knowledge”) or its etymon Sanskrit बोधि (bodhi, “perfect knowledge or wisdom by which a person becomes a buddha or jina; enlightened or illuminated intellect of a Buddha or jina”). Etymology 1 sense 3 (“mutant gene of Drosophila that causes homosexual behaviour in males”) was coined by the Japanese scientist Daisuke Yamamoto in a 1991 paper, based on the Japanese term.
noun
- A sudden inexpressible feeling of spiritual awakening or enlightenment, the result of meditation and study.
- Enlightenment, epiphany.
- A mutant gene of Drosophila, a genus of fruit flies, that causes homosexual behaviour in males (specifically, courtship directed to other males).
- A yokai (“supernatural monster”) having the form of a mind-reading monkey-like creature said to dwell in the mountains of the historical Japanese provinces of Hida and Mino (present-day Gifu Prefecture).e.g.“The Satori appears in [Toriyama] Sekien's Konjyaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki as a hairy, ape-like, mountain-dwelling creature that can read people's minds[…].” — 2010, Zilia Papp, “Art History Meets Gegegeno Kitaro”, in Anime and Its Roots in Early Japanese Monster Art, Folkstone, Kent: Global Oriental, →ISBN, page 112:
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.
- awakenment 59% match — An awakening. vs satori →
- bodhi 57% match — The state of enlightenment that finally ends the cycle of death and rebirth and leads to nirvana. vs satori →
- katsu 54% match — A word shouted out in Zen Buddhism (as well as other sects of Buddhism), and in East Asian martial arts schools, used to help focus the energy (気 (ki)), and thereby induce an enlightened state. vs satori →
- enlightenment 52% match — An act of enlightening, or the state of being enlightened or instructed. vs satori →
- awakenedness 52% match — The state or quality of being awakened. vs satori →
- nirvana 52% match — Complete cessation of dukkha; a blissful state attained through realization of sunyata; enlightened experience. vs satori →
- arhat 51% match — One who has attained enlightenment; a Buddhist saint. vs satori →
- mahasattva 50% match — A bodhisattva who attains a high degree on the path of consciousness awakening. vs satori →