Etymology

chindogu

C3H4I1N1D2O1G2U1

Today it means: An ingenious but impractical gadget intended to solve an everyday problem. Full definition →

Japanese 珍道具
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The story

  1. Japanese · borrowed from珍道具
  2. English todaychindogu

Japanese 珍道具. Coined by Kenji Kawakami and popularized by the 1995 book "101 Unuseless Japanese Inventions: The Art of Chindōgu".

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.