Etymology

kendama

K5E1N1D2A1M3A1

Today it means: A traditional Japanese toy with an attached ball that can be caught in any of three cups or on a spike. Full definition →

Japanese けん玉
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Japanese · borrowed fromけん玉
  2. English todaykendama

Borrowed from Japanese けん玉 (けんだま, kendama), from 拳 (けん, ken, “game played with the hands; fist”) or 剣 (けん, ken, “sword”) + 玉 (たま, tama, “ball”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.