Shadowplay
/ˈʃæd.oʊˌpleɪ/noun
A theatrical performance in which puppets or figures appear as shadows cast onto a screen.
Did you know?Long before film, shadow-puppet traditions across Asia used light, leather figures, music, and storytelling to create entire supernatural worlds on a screen.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*skotwós
“Darkness or shadow; a reconstructed ancestor associated with the shadow word-family.”
Proto-Germanic
Germanic
*skadwō
“Shadow or shade.”
Old English
Old English
sceadu
“Shadow, darkness, or shade.”
Old English
Old English
plegian
“To play, exercise, frolic, or perform.”
17th Century
English
shadow play
“A performance using shadow images, especially a puppet theater shown against a screen.”
Modern English
English
shadowplay
“A shadow-puppet performance or, figuratively, an illusion-like display of images and events.”