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kintsugi

American

[kin-tsoo-gee] / kɪnˈtsu gi /

noun

Also called kintsukuroi. a traditional Japanese pottery repair technique in which lacquer mixed with precious metals, especially gold, is used to fill cracks and replace missing pieces.

A 300-year old vase repaired with kintsugi was on display.

Etymology

Origin of kintsugi

First recorded in 2005–10; from Japanese: literally “gold repair, gold joinery”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

kintsugi

Ms. Kondo illustrates mottainai through art forms that evolved from the spirit of preservation—including kintsugi, or the painstaking process of repairing broken pottery with a combination of lacquer and gold.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025

If that sounds hard to believe, look up the Japanese word kintsugi.

From Salon ● Apr. 30, 2021

The cover art for “Know My Name” is inspired by the Japanese art of kintsugi or “golden repair,” in which broken pottery pieces are mended using lacquer and powdered gold.

From New York Times ● Sep. 4, 2019

In case you are not among her several thousand followers on social media, Susan Orlean has been teaching herself kintsugi, the ancient Japanese art of mending broken pottery with gold.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2019

Yusuke Mizobata, chief executive of the Tokyo-based design company NOD, considers kintsugi a predecessor of the modern concept of upcycling.

From Washington Post

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023