kabuki

See also: Kabuki

English

WOTD – 22 December 2006

Depiction of a kabuki theater scene.

Alternative forms

• Kabuki

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 歌舞伎 (kabuki).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /kəˈbuːki/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ka‧bu‧ki
• Rhymes: -uːki

Noun

kabuki (uncountable)

1. (often capitalized) A form of Japanese theatre in which elaborately costumed male performers use stylized movements, dances, and songs in order to enact tragedies and comedies.
   • 2007 July 19, Charles Isherwood, “Guilty Pleasures of Comic Kabuki”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Despite its self-consciously assumed irreverence toward traditional practices, “Hokaibo” incorporates all the essential elements of classic Kabuki: the all-male company of actors, exaggerated makeup, the stomping dances, the arresting, cross-eyed poses at moments of high drama that are recognized and applauded.

   • 2023 June 27, AFP, “Japanese kabuki actor arrested for allegedly assisting in his mother’s suicide”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     Ichikawa, whose real name is Takahiko Kinoshi, made his kabuki debut in 1980 and went on to become one of the country’s most renowned performers.

2. (by extension, US) A stylized, pretentious, and often hollow performance; (especially) political posturing.
   • 2005 June 12, Michael Kinsley, “No Smoking Gun”, in Washington Post‎^[3]:

     The whole "weapons of mass destruction" concern was phony from the start, and the drama about inspections was just kabuki: going through the motions.

   • 2010 March 14, Jon Lackman, “It’s Time To Retire Kabuki: The word doesn’t mean what pundits think it does”, in Slate‎^[4]:

     Health care reform recently brought Kabuki to mind for both Rush Limbaugh—“what you have here is ‘Kabuki theater’”—and New York Times columnist Frank Rich: “[I]f I were to place an incautious bet on which political event will prove the most significant of February 2010, I wouldn’t choose the kabuki health care summit.”

   • 2020 January 29, Dan Brooks, “Comedy Written for the Machines”, in New York Times Magazine‎^[5]:

     The boy tells her she will find iPhone chargers if she takes five steps back. Here the performance shifts from mere stiltedness to a kind of hateful Kabuki, an affected defiance of how people naturally act: She walks backward, counting her steps, then turns and slaps her forehead.

Derived terms

• kabuki brush
• kabuki dance
• kabuki makeup syndrome
• kabuki play
• kabuki syndrome
• kabuki theater
• kabuki theatre

 

Translations

form of Japanese theatre

• Arabic: كَابُوكِي m (kābūkī)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 歌舞伎 (zh) (gēwǔjì)

• Czech: kabuki n
• Finnish: kabuki
• French: kabuki (fr) m
• German: Kabuki (de) n, Kabukitheater n
• Hungarian: kabuki (hu)
• Japanese: 歌舞伎 (ja) (かぶき, kabuki)
• Korean: 가부키 (gabuki)
• Kyrgyz: кабуки (ky) (kabuki)
• Malay: kabuki
• Marathi: काबुकी (kābukī)
• Mongolian: кабүки (kabüki)
• Polish: kabuki (pl) n
• Portuguese: kabuki (pt) m, cabúqui (pt) m
• Russian: кабу́ки (ru) m (kabúki) (indeclinable)
• Swedish: kabuki (sv)
• Vietnamese: kịch kabuki

Further reading

• kabuki on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Kubiak

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 歌舞伎 (kabuki).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.by.ki/, /ka.bu.ki/

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland)

  (file)

Noun

kabuki m (plural kabukis)

1. kabuki

Further reading

• “kabuki”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Indonesian

Etymology

From Japanese 歌舞伎 (kabuki).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈbuki/
• Hyphenation: ka‧bu‧ki

Noun

kabuki (first-person possessive kabukiku, second-person possessive kabukimu, third-person possessive kabukinya)

1. (art, drama) kabuki.

Further reading

• “kabuki” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Japanese 歌舞伎 (kabuki).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈbu.ki/
• Rhymes: -uki
• Hyphenation: ka‧bù‧ki

Noun

kabuki m (uncountable)

1. kabuki (Japanese theatrical genre)

Adjective

kabuki (invariable)

1. (relational) kabuki

Further reading

• kabuki in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• kabuki in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

Japanese

Romanization

kabuki

1. Rōmaji transcription of かぶき

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Japanese 歌舞伎 (kabuki).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈbu.ki/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uki
• Syllabification: ka‧bu‧ki

Noun

kabuki n (indeclinable)

1. kabuki

Further reading

• kabuki in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• cabúqui

Etymology

Borrowing from Japanese 歌舞伎 (kabuki).

Noun

kabuki m (uncountable)

1. kabuki (form of Japanese theatre)

Romanian

Etymology

From Unadapted borrowing from English kabuki or French kabuki.

Noun

kabuki n (uncountable)

1. kabuki

Declension

declension of kabuki (singular only)

	singular
n gender	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) kabuki	kabukiul
genitive/dative	(unui) kabuki	kabukiului
vocative	kabukiule

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowing from Japanese 歌舞伎 (kabuki).

Noun

kabuki m (plural kabukis)

1. kabuki

Adjective

kabuki (invariable)

1. (relational) kabuki

Further reading

• “kabuki”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014