rock paper scissors

See also: rock-paper-scissors

English

Alternative forms

• rock-paper-scissors

Etymology

After the handshapes, as a calque of Japanese じゃんけんぽん (jankenpon).

Noun

rock paper scissors (uncountable)

1. (games) A popular children's game using three hand signs representing rock, paper and scissors, frequently used as a tiebreaker.

   Synonyms: paper scissors stone, scissors paper rock, scissors paper stone, janken, roshambo

2. (by extension) Any situation where strategies are not transitive, meaning each strategy is strong against some strategies and weak against others in a loop such that there is no universally best option.

Derived terms

• rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock

Translations

popular child's game

• Arabic: حَجَرَة وَرَقَة مِقَصّ (ḥajara waraqa miqaṣṣ), حَجَر وَرَق مِقَصّ (ḥajar waraq miqaṣṣ)
• Armenian: չինգաչունգ (čʻingačʻung), քար, մկրատ, թուղթ (kʻar, mkrat, tʻuġtʻ)
• Bulgarian: ка́мък, но́жица, харти́я (kámǎk, nóžica, hartíja)
• Burmese: စုံစွမ်စိ (cumcwamci.)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 包剪揼 (baau¹ zin² dap⁶)

  Mandarin: 石頭剪子布／石头剪子布 (shítou jiǎnzi bù), 石头剪子布 (shítou jiǎnzi bù), 剪刀石頭布／剪刀石头布 (zh) (jiǎndāo shítou bù), 剪刀石头布 (zh) (jiǎndāo shítou bù)

• Czech: kámen, nůžky, papír m
• Danish: sten, saks, papir
• Dutch: steen, papier, schaar ?, blad-steen-schaar ?
• Esperanto: papero, tondilo, ŝtono
• Estonian: kivi-paber-käärid
• Finnish: kivi-sakset-paperi, kivi-paperi-sakset
• French: pierre-feuille-ciseaux (fr) m, chifoumi (fr) m
• Galician: pedra, papel, tesoura
• German: Schnick Schnack Schnuck n, Schere, Stein, Papier (de) n, Ching, Chang, Chong n, Klick, Klack, Kluck n
• Hebrew: אבן נייר ומספריים / אֶבֶן נְיָר וּמִסְפָּרַיִם (he) ? (éven n'yár u-misparáyim)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hindi: रॉक कागज कैंची ? (rŏk kāgaj ka͠icī)
• Hungarian: kő-papír-olló
• Indonesian: batu, gunting, kertas, suit (id), suten (id)
• Irish: cloch páipéar siosúr m
• Italian: morra cinese f, carta, forbice, sasso m
• Japanese: じゃん拳, じゃんけん (ja) (janken), じゃん拳ぽん, じゃんけんぽん (ja) (jankenpon)
• Korean: 가위바위보 (ko) (gawibawibo)
• Latvian: akmens, šķēres, papīrīt's ?
• Macedonian: лист камен ножички (list kamen nožički)
• Maltese: karta, ġebla jew imqass
• Norwegian: stein saks papir ?
• Polish: papier, kamień, nożyce m
• Portuguese: pedra-papel-tesoura m, joquempô m
• Russian: ка́мень, но́жницы, бума́га (ru) n (kámenʹ, nóžnicy, bumága)
• Spanish: piedra, papel o tijera m
• Swedish: sten, sax, påse n
• Tagalog: jak-en-poy
• Thai: เป่ายิ้งฉุบ (bpào-yíng-chùp)
• Turkish: taş kağıt makas
• Ukrainian: ка́мінь-но́жиці-папі́р m (káminʹ-nóžyci-papír)
• Vietnamese: oẳn tù tì (vi), xù xi, kéo búa bao (vi)