puppet

English

Bleeckie, an example of a rod puppet.

Etymology

From Middle English popet, probably from, though attested earlier than, Middle French poupette, diminutive of poupée (cf. also Medieval Latin *pupata), ultimately derived from Latin pupa (“doll, puppet; girl”). The nominal form first appears c. 1531, and the verbal form c. 1635. See also puppy.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pŭpʹĭt, IPA^(key): /ˈpʌpɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌpɪt
• Hyphenation: pup‧pet

Noun

puppet (plural puppets)

1. Any small model of a person or animal able to be moved by strings or rods, or in the form of a glove.
2. (figuratively) A person, country, etc, controlled by another.
   • 1820 March, [Walter Scott], The Monastery. A Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Co., and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC:

     These men , from no worse motive that could be discovered than a thirst after knowledge beyond their sphere , committed burglary upon the barn in which the puppets had been consigned to repose

3. (obsolete) A poppet; a small image in the human form; a doll.
4. (engineering) The upright support for the bearing of the spindle in a lathe.

Synonyms

• (a person directed by another): monkey (with reference to organ grinders)

Derived terms

• finger puppet
• fuckpuppet
• glove puppet
• hand puppet
• happy puppet syndrome
• meat puppet
• puppet army
• puppeteer
• puppet government
• puppet leader
• puppetman
• puppetmaster
• puppet regime
• puppet ruler
• puppetry
• puppet show
• puppet state
• puppet valve
• shadow puppet
• sock puppet

Related terms

• marionette
• muppet
• puppy

Translations

movable model of a person or animal

• Acehnese: please add this translation if you can
• Albanian: kukull (sq) f
• Arabic: دُمْيَة f (dumya)
• Armenian: մարիոնետ (hy) (marionet), խամաճիկ (hy) (xamačik), տիկնիկ (hy) (tiknik), խաղատիկնիկ (hy) (xaġatiknik)
• Azerbaijani: kukla (az)
• Bashkir: ҡурсаҡ (qursaq)
• Belarusian: марыяне́тка f (maryjanjétka), ля́лька f (ljálʹka), ку́кла f (kúkla)
• Bengali: পুতুল (bn) (putul)
• Bulgarian: ку́кла (bg) f (kúkla), марионе́тка (bg) f (marionétka)
• Burmese: အရုပ် (my) (a.rup)
• Chakma: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 木偶 (muk⁶ ngau⁵), 人偶 (jan⁴ ngau⁵), 偶人 (ngau⁵ jan⁴)

  Mandarin: 木偶 (zh) (mù'ǒu), 人偶 (zh) (rén'ǒu), 偶人 (zh) (ǒurén)

• Cornish: popet m
• Czech: loutka (cs) f
• Danish: marionet c
• Dutch: marionet (nl) f
• Esperanto: pupo (eo)
• Estonian: nukk (generic), nuku (colloquial); käpiknukk (in glove form); marionett, hüpiknukk (moved with strings)
• Finnish: nukke (fi) (generic); käsinukke (fi) (in glove form); sätkynukke (fi), marionetti (fi) (moved with strings)
• French: marionnette (fr) f
• Galician: monicreque m, marioneta f, fantoche m, monifate m
• Georgian: მარიონეტი (marioneṭi), თოჯინა (toǯina)
• German: Handpuppe (de) f (in glove form), Marionette (de) f (moved with strings)
• Greek: ανδρείκελο (el) n (andreíkelo), νευρόσπαστο (el) n (nevróspasto), μαριονέτα (el) f (marionéta)

  Ancient Greek: ἀνδρείκελον n (andreíkelon), νευρόσπαστον n (neuróspaston)

• Hebrew: בובה \ בֻּבָּה (he) f (bubá)
• Hindi: कठपुतली (hi) f (kaṭhputlī), गुड़िया (hi) f (guṛiyā), पुतली (hi) f (putlī)
• Hungarian: báb (hu), bábu (hu)
• Icelandic: brúða (is) f, leikbrúða f
• Indonesian: boneka (id)
• Irish: puipéad
• Italian: marionetta (it) f, fantoccio (it) m
• Japanese: 傀儡 (ja) (くぐつ, kugutsu), パペット (papetto), 操り人形 (ja) (ayatsuri ningyō), 偶人 (ja) (ぐうじん, gūjin), 人形 (ja) (にんぎょう, ningyō)
• Kazakh: қуыршақ (quyrşaq)
• Khmer: អាយ៉ង (km) (ʼaayɑɑng), ណាំងតាលុង (nang taalung)
• Korean: 꼭두각시 (ko) (kkokdugaksi), 인형(人形) (ko) (inhyeong), 우인(偶人) (u'in)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: kukla (ku)

• Kyrgyz: куурчак (ky) (kuurcak)
• Lao: ຕຸກກະຕາ (lo) (tuk ka tā)
• Latin: neuropastum n, pupa f
• Latvian: marionete f, lelle f
• Lithuanian: marionetė f, lėlė f
• Macedonian: кукла f (kukla), марионе́та f (marionéta)
• Malay: boneka, anak patung (ms)
• Malayalam: പാവ (ml) (pāva)
• Maori: karetao, tokoraurape
• Marathi: कठपुतळी f (kaṭhputḷī), कळसूत्री f (kaḷsūtrī)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хүүхэлдэй (mn) (xüüxeldej)

  Mongolian: ᠬᠡᠦᠬᠡᠯᠳᠡᠢ (keükeldei)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: marionett m, hånddukke m or f (in glove form)

• Old East Slavic: кукла f (kukla)
• Ottoman Turkish: قوقله (kukla), ببك (bebek)
• Pashto: لوبته (ps) f (lobata), لوبتک m (lobtak), لوبتکه f (lobtǝka), لوڅکه f (lūcaka), ليځکه f (lijǝka), ننځکه f (nanjǝka), پوتلۍ (ps) f (putlay), ګوډاګى f (guḍāgay)
• Persian:

  Dari: گُدِی (gudī)

  Iranian Persian: عَروسَک (arusak)

• Plautdietsch: Aumpelmaun m
• Polish: lalka (pl) f
• Portuguese: fantoche (pt) m
• Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi: ਪੁਤਲੀ f (putlī), ਕਠਪੁਤਲੀ f (kaṭhputalī)

• Rohingya: please add this translation if you can
• Romagnol: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: păpușă (ro) f, marionetă (ro) f
• Russian: марионе́тка (ru) f (marionétka), ку́кла (ru) f (kúkla)
• Samoan: papeti
• Sanskrit: पाञ्चालिका (sa) f (pāñcālikā)
• Scottish Gaelic: gille-mirein m, pupaid f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лу̏тка f

  Roman: lȕtka (sh) f

• Sinhalese: රූකඩ (rūkaḍa)
• Slovak: maňuška f, bábka f
• Slovene: lutka (sl) f
• Spanish: títere (es) m, marioneta (es) f, fantoche (es) m
• Swahili: karagosi
• Swedish: marionett (sv) c
• Tagalog: sebekoy
• Tajik: зоча (zoča), лӯхтак (lüxtak), арусак (arusak)
• Tatar: курчак (tt) (qurçaq)
• Thai: หุ่นเชิด (th) (hùn-chə̂ət)
• Tibetan: ཨ་ལག་པད་ཀོག (a lag pad kog)
• Turkish: kukla (tr)
• Turkmen: gurjak
• Ukrainian: маріоне́тка f (marionétka), ля́лька (uk) f (ljálʹka), ку́кла (uk) f (kúkla)
• Urdu: گُڑِیا f (guṛiyā), پُتْلِی f (putlī)
• Uyghur: قورچاق (qorchaq)
• Uzbek: qoʻgʻirchoq (uz)
• Vietnamese: con rối (vi)
• Welsh: pyped m
• Yiddish: ליאַלקע f (lyalke), מאַריאָנעטטע f (maryonette)

doll — see doll

person or country controlled by another

• Albanian: kukull (sq) f
• Arabic: دُمْيَة f (dumya)
• Armenian: մարիոնետ (hy) (marionet), խամաճիկ (hy) (xamačik)
• Azerbaijani: qondarma (az), kukla (az)
• Belarusian: марыяне́тка f (maryjanjétka)
• Bulgarian: марионе́тка (bg) f (marionétka)
• Catalan: ninot (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 傀儡 (zh) (kuǐlěi), 提線木偶 / 提线木偶 (zh) (tíxiàn mù'ǒu)

• Czech: loutka (cs) f
• Danish: marionet c
• Dutch: marionet (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: nukk, marionett
• Finnish: nukkevaltio (country), nukkehallitsija (fi) (ruler); sätkynukke (fi), marionetti (fi) (person), nukke (fi)
• Georgian: მარიონეტი (marioneṭi)
• German: Marionette (de) f
• Greek: μαριονέτα (el) f (marionéta)
• Hebrew: בובה \ בֻּבָּה (he) f (bubá)
• Hungarian: báb (hu)
• Icelandic: leikbrúða f, strengjabrúða f
• Indonesian: boneka (id)
• Italian: marionetta (it) f, fantoccio (it) m, pedina (it) f
• Japanese: 人形 (ja) (にんぎょう, ningyō), 傀儡 (ja) (かいらい、kairai)
• Korean: 꼭두각시 (ko) (kkokdugaksi), 괴뢰(傀儡) (ko) (goeroe)
• Latvian: marionete f
• Lithuanian: marionetė f
• Malay: boneka
• Malayalam: ചരടുപാവ (caraṭupāva)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: тоглоом (mn) (togloom)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: marionett m, nikkedukke (no) m or f (literally “nodding doll”)

• Polish: marionetka (pl) f
• Portuguese: marionete (pt) f, fantoche (pt) m
• Romanian: marionetă (ro) f
• Russian: марионе́тка (ru) f (marionétka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лу̏тка f

  Roman: lȕtka (sh) f

• Slovak: bábka f
• Slovene: lutka (sl) f
• Spanish: títere (es) m, marioneta (es) f, fantoche (es) m, monigote (es) m, pelele (es) m
• Swedish: marionett (sv) c, marionett- (e.g. marionettregering = controlled government, marionettstat (sv) = controlled country), sprattelgubbe (sv) c, nickedocka c
• Thai: หุ่นเชิด (th) (hùn-chə̂ət)
• Turkish: kukla (tr)
• Ukrainian: маріоне́тка f (marionétka)
• Vietnamese: con rối (vi), bù nhìn (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} bábika f (3)

Verb

puppet (third-person singular simple present puppets, present participle puppeting, simple past and past participle puppeted)

1. (transitive, also figuratively) To control or manipulate like a puppet.