Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The art or process, originating in Japan, of folding paper into shapes representing flowers and birds, for example.
  • noun A decorative object made by folding paper.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun uncountable The Japanese art of paper folding.
  • noun countable A piece of art made by folding paper.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the Japanese art of folding paper into shapes representing objects (e.g., flowers or birds)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Japanese : ori, to fold + kami, paper.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Japanese 折り紙 (origami)

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word origami.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • The word is Japanese, literally meaning to fold (oru) paper (kami).

    December 2, 2008

  • 折り紙 = origami = paper-folding

    折り神 = origami = God-folding

    December 3, 2008

  • !

    December 3, 2008

  • JM was sad to hear that his favourite online origami store has folded.

    May 31, 2011