Meaning & use
origami
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Meanings
noununcountable
The traditional Japanese craft of folding a sheet of paper into a shape such as a bird or flower, usually without cutting or glue.
Grammar: Treated as a mass noun for the art: she studies origami, not an origami.
Patterns
- fold origami
- an origami something
My grandmother taught me origami on rainy afternoons.
The class made origami cranes to decorate the hallway.
Good origami depends on sharp, accurate creases.
nouncountableinformal
A single object made by folding paper in this way.
Grammar: Informal use; the plural is origami or origamis: a table covered in tiny origami.
He gave me a little origami shaped like a frog.
Each guest found an origami on their plate.
Word forms
| plural | origami |
|---|
Common combinations
- fold origami
- We fold origami at the library every Saturday.
- origami crane
- She hung a thousand origami cranes in the window.
- origami paper
- Thin, square origami paper is easier to fold than printer paper.
- origami artist
- The origami artist turned a single sheet into a dragon.
- modular origami
- Modular origami joins many folded pieces into one large shape.
Synonyms and how they differ
- paper folding
- Paper folding is the plain English description and can include any folding craft, whereas origami names the Japanese tradition specifically.
- papercraft
- Papercraft is a wider term that also covers cutting and gluing, which origami traditionally avoids.
Word family
- origamist noun
- a person who practices origami
- kirigami noun
- a related Japanese paper art that includes cutting
Commonly confused: origami or kirigami?
origami vs kirigami
Kirigami allows cuts in the paper, while origami is folding alone.
Practice
What makes origami different from many other paper crafts?
Choose one answer.
Origami is defined by folding a sheet into shape. Cutting, molding, and gluing belong to other crafts.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “origami”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.