wabi

See also: wābí

English

Etymology

From Japanese 侘び.

Noun

wabi (uncountable)

1. (Zen Buddhism) A quality of simple or solitary beauty, especially as expressed in various forms of Japanese art or culture.
   • 1962, Philip K. Dick, “The Man in the High Castle”, in Four Novels of the 1960s, Library of America, published 2007, page 94:

     A lamp here, table, bookcase, print on the wall. The incredible Japanese sense of wabi.

   • 1998, Sen Sōshitsu XV, translated by V. Dixon Morris, The Japanese Way of Tea, page 146:

     One of these changes would be the further refinement of the concept of wabi as an aesthetic ideal, and that was to be the work of Takeno Jōō, under whom the Way of Tea would mature.

Related terms

• wabi-sabi

Anagrams

• biwa

Japanese

Romanization

wabi

1. Rōmaji transcription of わび

Kou

Noun

wabi

1. arm

Further reading

• Johannes A. Z'Graggen, The Madang-Adelbert Range Sub-Phylum (1975), page 602 (as Sinsauru and Asas)
• Johannes A. Z'graggen, A Comparative Word list of the Rai Coast Languages, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, Pacific Linguistics (1980)

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈva.bi/
• Rhymes: -abi
• Syllabification: wa‧bi

Verb

wabi

1. third-person singular present of wabić