amigurumi

English

WOTD – 3 November 2018

Etymology

An amigurumi bear

Borrowed from Japanese 編み包み (amigurumi), a blend of 編む (amu, “to knit”) +‎ 縫い包み (nuigurumi, “stuffed toy”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑːmɪˈɡuːɹuːmɪ/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• IPA^(key): /ɑmiˈɡuɹumi/
• Hyphenation: ami‧gu‧ru‧mi

Noun

amigurumi (countable and uncountable, plural amigurumi)

1. (uncountable, knitting) The Japanese art of crocheting or knitting stuffed yarn toys, typically creatures having oversized heads.
   • 2014 October 28, Christopher Langley, “Artbound: Jael Hoffmann: High Desert Sculptor of Internal Landscapes”, in KCET‎^[1], archived from the original on 2 November 2018:

     Noa has been mostly homeschooled, and is poised to graduate high school in this "severely" rural area. She has a self-described "yarn addiction" (does astounding lace work, Amigurumi, and other yarn art), and wants to learn how to work in glass, after graduation.

   • 2015, Hansi Singh, “Techniques: Gauge/Yarn”, in Knitted Amigurumi Vegetables: Basic Techniques Plus 5 Veggies, Minneapolis, Minn.: Creative Publishing International, →ISBN, page 31:

     In amigurumi knitting, gauge sense is a little bit different from what it is in most other types of knitting. Since amigurumi doesn't really need to fit anybody, you're not obligated to work at any particular gauge. However, most amigurumi figures are stuffed with fiberfill. If you don't want this fluffy white stuff poking out of your creation, it's very important that you knit at a gauge that is tight for the weight of yarn that you're using.

   • 2017 May 3, Alyson Ward, “Adorable alert: A tiny yarn Sherlock Holmes or Huck Finn: New book features cute critters from Houston’s ‘crochet ninja’”, in Houston Chronicle‎^[2], Houston, Tex., archived from the original on 14 August 2017:

     She started crocheting six years ago "completely out of boredom," watching YouTube videos to pick up the technique. Almost immediately, she started making amigurumi figures, Japanese-inspired stuffed dolls and action figures.

2. (countable, knitting) Such a stuffed toy crocheted or knitted from yarn.
   • 2008 April 20, Rachelle Unreich, “The play’s the thing”, in The Age‎^[3], Melbourne, Vic., archived from the original on 2 November 2018:

     Pip Lincolne, owner of Meet Me At Mike's in Fitzroy, stocks cutesy, Japanese-style knitted or crochet toys, known as amigurumi. "When we started Mike's, we wanted to sell the things that we loved, which happened to be things with a childlike or nostalgic theme through them," she says. "We wanted to stock handmade items and discovered the Japanese craft movement a few months after.

   • 2009, Hansi Singh, “Techniques”, in Amigurumi Knits: Patterns for 20 Cute Mini Knits, Minneapolis, Minn.: Creative Publishing International, →ISBN, page 18:

     And since most amigurumi tends to be on the small side, you will use these small diameter circular knitting techniques frequently.

   • 2018 April 18, Griffin Swartzell, “Mary Nguyen crochets advanced stitching techniques into adorable amigurumi”, in Colorado Springs Independent‎^[4], Colorado Springs, Colo., archived from the original on 18 April 2018:

     Some days after April’s First Friday festivities, I noticed on the desk of a colleague an adorable crocheted fish doll, one Fred by name. […] Fred, like many of [Mary] Nguyen’s pieces, is an amigurumi – petite knitted/crocheted stuffed animals, popularized in Japan over the course of the 20th century before websites like Etsy, Pinterest and Ravelry exposed Western audiences to them in the mid-2000s.

Hypernyms

• soft toy

Translations

Japanese art of crocheting or knitting stuffed yarn toys

• Arabic: اميجورومي
• Hebrew: אמיגורומי
• Japanese: 編み包み (あみぐるみ, amigurumi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: амигуру́ми (amigurúmi)
• Thai: ตุ๊กตาหมีถักไหมพรม
• Ukrainian: аміґурумі (amigurumi)

stuffed toy crocheted or knitted from yarn

• Japanese: 編み包み (あみぐるみ, amigurumi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Further reading

• amigurumi on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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Japanese

Romanization

amigurumi

1. Rōmaji transcription of あみぐるみ