marionette

See also: Marionette

English

A marionette being manipulated by a puppetmaster during a traditional yoke thé performance in Bagan, Myanmar

Etymology

Borrowed from French marionnette. The word originally meant a small statue of the Virgin Mary, then also a puppet of her used in religious theatrical presentations, finally generalised to any puppet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌmæɹi.əˈnɛt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛt

Noun

marionette (plural marionettes)

1. A puppet, usually made of wood, which is animated by the pulling of strings.
   • 1885 — Gilbert and Sullivan, The Mikado

     If you think we are worked by strings,

     Like a Japanese marionette,

     You don't understand these things:

     It is simply Court etiquette.

2. (obsolete) The buffel duck.

Derived terms

• marionettist

Translations

string puppet

• Armenian: խամաճիկ (hy) (xamačik)
• Belarusian: марыяне́тка f (maryjanjétka)
• Bulgarian: марионетка (bg) f (marionetka)
• Catalan: marioneta (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 扯線公仔／扯线公仔 (ce² sin³ gung¹ zai²), 木頭公仔／木头公仔 (muk⁶ tau⁴ gung¹ zai²)

  Mandarin: 扯線木偶／扯线木偶, 扯線木偶／扯线木偶 (chěxiàn mù'ǒu), 提線木偶／提线木偶 (zh) (tíxiàn mù'ǒu), 懸絲傀儡／悬丝傀儡 (xuánsī kuǐlěi)

• Czech: marioneta (cs) f
• Dutch: marionet (nl) f
• Esperanto: marioneto
• Finnish: marionetti (fi)
• French: marionnette (fr) f
• German: Marionette (de) f
• Hungarian: marionett (hu)
• Ido: marioneto (io)
• Interlingua: marionette
• Italian: marionetta (it) f
• Japanese: 糸繰り人形 (いとくりにんぎょう, itokuri ningyō), マリオネット (marionetto)
• Kazakh: қуыршақ (quyrşaq)
• Latin: vavato m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: marionett m

  Nynorsk: marionett m

• Plautdietsch: Aumpelmaun m
• Polish: marionetka (pl) f
• Portuguese: marionete (pt) f
• Romanian: marionetă (ro) f
• Russian: марионе́тка (ru) f (marionétka)
• Slovak: bábka f
• Spanish: marioneta f
• Swedish: marionett (sv) c
• Thai: หุ่นเชิด (th) (hùn-chə̂ət)
• Turkish: kukla (tr) c
• Ukrainian: маріоне́тка f (marionétka)
• Volapük: marionät (vo)

Verb

marionette (third-person singular simple present marionettes, present participle marionetting, simple past and past participle marionetted)

1. (transitive) To control (somebody) as if they were a puppet; to manipulate.

See also

• marionette on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Marionettes in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• manipulator

Anagrams

• metanorite, ortetamine, temeration

Interlingua

Noun

marionette (plural marionettes)

1. marionette

Italian

Noun

marionette f

1. plural of marionetta

Anagrams

• intemerato, mattonerei, mattoniere, riemettano

Portuguese

Noun

marionette f (plural marionettes)

1. Superseded spelling of marionete.