mingei

M3I1N1G2E1I1

noun

A Japanese folk art movement focusing on inexpensive hand-made everyday items.

OriginJapanese 民衆的な工芸 →
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Meanings

nounmingei (uncountable)
  1. uncountableA Japanese folk art movement focusing on inexpensive hand-made everyday items.

    He studied industrial ceramics at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, inspired by a visit to the Japan Folk Crafts Museum in 1938, where he encountered mingei philosophy, and its objects, for the first time.

    2007 December 23, William L. Hamilton, “Tatsuzo Shimaoka, 88, Master of Pottery, Is Dead”, in New York Times

Origin

  1. Japanese民衆的な工芸
  2. Englishmingei

Japanese 民衆的な工芸, “hand-crafted art of ordinary people”.

More words from Japanese

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Gemini
Cite this entry
APA

mingei. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mingei

MLA

“mingei.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mingei. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mingei,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mingei.

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