kemari

K5E1M3A1R1I1

noun

An ancient Japanese ball game, still played in modern times, in which players cooperate to try to keep a deerskin ball in the air.

OriginChinese 蹴鞠 →
Scrabble 12
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounkemari (uncountable)
  1. uncountableAn ancient Japanese ball game, still played in modern times, in which players cooperate to try to keep a deerskin ball in the air.

Origin

  1. Chinese蹴鞠
  2. Englishkemari

Borrowed from Japanese 蹴鞠(けまり) (kemari), from Chinese 蹴鞠 (cùjú).

More words from Chinese

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Markieramkie
Cite this entry
APA

kemari. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kemari

MLA

“kemari.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kemari. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kemari,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kemari.

Source: kemari on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.