shoji

American  

[shoh-zhee, -jee] / ˈʃoʊ ʒi, -dʒi /

noun

shojis plural

1. a light screen consisting of a framework of wood covered with paper or other translucent material, used originally in Japanese homes as one of a series of sliding panels between the interior and exterior or between two interior spaces.

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shoji British  

/ -dʒiː, ˈʃəʊʒiː /

noun

1. a rice-paper screen in a sliding wooden frame, used in Japanese houses as a partition

2. any similar screen

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• shoji
  plural
• shojis
  plural

Etymology

Origin of shoji

1875–80; < Japanese shōji, earlier shaũji < Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese zhàngzi fence

Example Sentences

Sliding cherrywood shoji screens throughout the living room, hand-built by the original owner.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 26, 2026

The roof is followed by a moon, shoji screen and a maple tree with a single leaf.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 2, 2021

My grandmother, who would soon be a war widow, recalled the crackle of wooden houses consumed like kindling, how the flames danced as the shoji paper screens caught fire.

From New York Times • Aug. 3, 2021

Paper-paned shoji doors filter natural light within the nearly 6,300 square feet of living space.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 27, 2019

Every night at my honorable home I open shoji to see old priest strike bell and make him sing.

From Mr. Bamboo and the Honorable Little God A Christmas Story by Little, Frances, [pseud.]