Kintsukuroi
/kĩnt͡sɯ̟ᵝkɯɾo̞i/noun
A Japanese practice or aesthetic of repairing broken pottery with lacquer, traditionally mixed with powdered gold or other precious metals.
Did you know?Kintsukuroi is often used interchangeably with kintsugi, though kintsugi—literally “gold joining”—is the more widely established Japanese term for the repair technique.
Etymological Timeline
Classical Chinese
Sino-Japanese
金
“Gold; metal; a precious substance”
Old Japanese
Japanese
kin
“Gold, derived from the Sino-Japanese reading of 金”
Old Japanese
Japanese
tsukuroi
“Repairing, mending, or restoring; from tsukuro-u, “to mend””
20th Century
Japanese
kintsukuroi
“A compound meaning “gold repair,” referring to repairing ceramics with gold-bearing lacquer”
Modern English
English
kintsukuroi
“An English loanword for the Japanese philosophy or practice of highlighting, rather than concealing, repaired breaks”