Etymology

nurikabe

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Today it means: A Japanese logic puzzle with a rectangular grid of squares, some of them numbered; the solver is challenged to fill in a subset of squares (under certain constraints) such that each numbered square finally indicates the number of unfilled squares contiguous to it. Full definition →

Japanese ぬりかべ
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The story

  1. Japanese · derived fromぬりかべ“an invisible wall in Japanese folklore that blocks roads and delays travel on foot”
  2. English todaynurikabe

From Japanese ぬりかべ (nurikabe, “an invisible wall in Japanese folklore that blocks roads and delays travel on foot”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.