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netsuke.

A small, often collectible, artistic carving characterized by an opening or two small holes (紐通し (himotōshi)), most commonly made of wood or ivory, used as a fob at the end of a cord attached to a suspended pouch containing pens, medicines, or tobacco. Netsuke originated in feudal Japan in the late 16th and 17th centuries.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/nɛtˈsu.ki/US/nɛtˈsu.keɪ/US/ˈnɛt.skeɪ/US/ˈnɛt.ski/US
  1. A small, often collectible, artistic carving characterized by an opening or two small holes (紐通し (himotōshi)), most commonly made of wood or ivory, used as a fob at the end of a cord attached to a suspended pouch containing pens, medicines, or tobacco. Netsuke originated in feudal Japan in the late 16th and 17th centuries.

Where this word comes from

From Japanese 根付 (netsuke). Literally 根 (ne, “root”) + 付け (tsuke, “attach”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.