ukiyo-e

See also: ukiyoe and ukiyoé

English

WOTD – 9 June 2011

Alternative forms

• ukiyoe, ukiyoé, ukiyoye

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 浮世絵 (ukiyoe), from 浮 (uki, “floating, fleeting”) + 世 (yo, “world; era”) + 絵 (e, “image, picture”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /uːˌkiːjəʊˈeɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /uː.ˈki.oʊ.ˌeɪ/

Noun

ukiyo-e (plural ukiyo-e)

1. (art) A Japanese painting or woodblock print depicting everyday life. [from 19th c.]
   • 1946 January 20, “Approved by the Air Force”, in Time:

     Like many Ukiyo-e artists, Jacoulet hires woodcarvers and printers to convert his ideas into prints.

   • 1958 April 2, The Times, p.11 col. F:

     The masters of Ukiyo-e, the woodblock print, like Utamaro, immortalized its great courtesans and its famous houses of prostitution.

   • 2001, Glen David Gold, Carter Beats the Devil:

     Starling looked past Carter, to an ukiyo-e woodcut of a Kabuki player.

Hyponyms

• uke-e

Translations

Japanese painting or woodblock print depicting everyday life

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 浮世繪／浮世绘 (zh) (fúshìhuì)

• French: ukiyo-e (fr) m
• Japanese: 浮世絵 (ja) (うきよえ, ukiyoe)
• Marathi: उकियोए (ukiyoe)
• Russian: укиёэ́ m (ukijoé)

Further reading

• ukiyo-e on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Category:ukiyo-e on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons