tenuki

T1E1N1U1K5I1
/tɛˈnuːki/

noun

playing elsewhere; ignoring the opponent's last move.

OriginJapanese 手抜き →
Scrabble 10
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Meanings

nountenuki (plural tenuki)
  1. goboard gamesplaying elsewhere; ignoring the opponent's last move.
verbtenuki (third-person singular simple present tenukis, present participle tenukiing, simple past and past participle tenukied)

present singular third person tenukis · participle present tenukiing · participle past tenukied · past tenukied

  1. intransitiveTo play elsewhere; to ignore the opponent's last move.
  2. figurativelyintransitiveTo shift one's attention away from an ongoing task; to change gears.

Origin

  1. Japanese手抜き
  2. Englishtenuki

Borrowed from Japanese 手抜き (tenuki).

More words from Japanese

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with tenuki

spookykabukikookyTukeyTesuquetanukidukeybookyflukeyUkie
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

tenuki. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenuki

MLA

“tenuki.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenuki. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tenuki,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenuki.

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