Meanings
shunga1
- uncountableA style of Japanese erotic art
The works confound stereotypes of Japanese etiquette, even as they update the tradition of the anatomically explicit shunga print.
2007 October 12, Roberta Smith, “Art in Review”, in New York Times
Shunga2
- not comparableOf or relating to the ancient Indian Shunga Empire that flourished between 187 and 78 B.C.E.
Under Shunga patronage, the core of the Great Stupa, thought to date from the era of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka (r. ca. 273–232 B.C.), was enlarged to its present diameter of 120 feet, covered with a stone casing, topped with a balcony and umbrella, and encircled with a stone railing.
2000, “Shunga Dynasty (ca. 2nd–1st century B.C.)”, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Origin
shunga · noun
- Japanese春画
- Englishshunga
From Japanese 春画, from Middle Chinese 春 (t͡ʃʰwin "spring", by extension "sexual", "erotic") + 畫 (hwɛ̀ "painting").
More words from Japanese
Full word history & related roots →Shunga · adjective
- Sanskritशुङ्ग“fig tree”
- EnglishShunga
Possibly from Sanskrit शुङ्ग (śuṅga, “fig tree”).
More words from Sanskrit
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
shunga. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shunga
“shunga.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shunga. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shunga,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shunga.
Source: shunga on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.