shibori

shibori means A form of Japanese tie-dye on silk.

Why “shibori” is a great word

A Japanese manual resist-dyeing technique in which fabric is shaped and secured by binding, stitching, or clamping before dyeing to create patterns. Borrowed from Japanese しぼり (shibori), a noun form of the verb 絞る (shiboru, "to wring, squeeze, press"), reflecting the action of manipulating the cloth; first attested in English in 1903. Unlike the haphazard splendor of "tie-dye" or the painterly control of "batik," shibori is a discipline of compression: the precise pleat bound by thread becomes a river of white lines, the cloth gathered around a stone blooms into a perfect ring, the bolt folded and clamped emerges as a repeating crest of frost. Each pattern is a fossil of human grip, a memory of pressure released into color.

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese しぼり.

noun

A form of Japanese tie-dye on silk

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.

bandhani 56% match — A style of tie-dyeing practised in parts of India. vs shibori →
batik 55% match — A wax-resist method of dyeing fabric. vs shibori →
chirimen 52% match — Japanese raw silk crêpe, widely used to make kimono. vs shibori →
shodo 50% match — Japanese calligraphy vs shibori →
oshibori 50% match — A moist towel for cleaning the hands, offered to customers in Japanese restaurants and bars. vs shibori →
dyebath 49% match — The liquid used for dyeing something by submerging it. vs shibori →
dyeing 49% match — The act by which something is dyed. vs shibori →
dyework 48% match — Visual effects produced by dyeing. vs shibori →