onnagata
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of onnagata
Borrowed into English from Japanese around 1900–05
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.
Her father was an onnagata theater actor, a male performer who specialized in female roles.
From New York Times • Jul. 15, 2012
Leading Kabuki artists like Tamasaburo, 32, a brilliant onnagata, may achieve the popularity of rock stars.
From Time Magazine Archive
Though Kabuki actually originated around 1600 with a woman dancer, one of its great modern claims to distinction is its onnagata, or extraordinary female impersonators.
From Time Magazine Archive
"To act as an onnagata, "he says, "is to try to create an ideal; what I as a man would consider to be the ideal woman."
From Time Magazine Archive
Though only 33, Bando is already a master onnagata, a man who plays female roles in the centuries-old art of Kabuki.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
