ChiramiWhat origami literally means (折り紙)
Origami (折り紙) is the Japanese art of folding paper, and the word says exactly that: 折り (ori), folding, and 紙 (kami), paper. Folded paper. In Japanese it also means the paper itself: the squares of coloured paper you fold.
What the kanji say
折 (setsu, or oru) means to fold, and also to break. Its oldest form showed an axe, 斤, chopping a tree in two. The halved tree later turned into 扌, the hand radical, so today the kanji looks like a hand holding an axe. Breaking came first.
Japanese 折る (oru) means both, too. 紙を折る (kami o oru) is to fold paper, but 枝を折る (eda o oru) is to snap off a branch, and 足の骨を折る (ashi no hone o oru) is to break your leg. So fold gently.
紙 (shi, or kami) means paper. The 糸 on its left is thread or silk, and 氏 on the right gives the sound.
In 折り紙, kami becomes gami. Japanese often softens the first sound of the second word in a compound, a change called rendaku. You can hear the same change in 手紙 (tegami), a letter.
Origami before it was called origami
Paper folding in Japan goes back centuries. A poem by Ihara Saikaku from 1680 mentions paper butterflies at weddings, and the oldest known how-to book of folding for fun, Hiden Senbazuru Orikata (“the secret of folding a thousand cranes”), came out in 1797. In the Edo period the craft usually went by other names, such as 折形 (orikata), and “origami” became the usual word for all of it only later.
Origami as a guarantee
折り紙 has another meaning too. A sheet of good paper folded in half was used for official documents, and for certificates vouching for a sword or a painting: who made it, and where it came from. That’s why 折り紙付き (origamitsuki), “with the folded paper attached”, means certified or guaranteed. It’s only used as praise.
How to use it
子どもと折り紙で鶴を折った。
Kodomo to origami de tsuru o otta.
I folded a paper crane with my kids.
紙を半分に折ってください。
Kami o hanbun ni otte kudasai.
Fold the paper in half, please.
スキーで足の骨を折った。
Sukii de ashi no hone o otta.
I broke my leg skiing.
風で枝が折れた。
Kaze de eda ga oreta.
The wind snapped a branch.
彼の料理の腕は折り紙付きだ。
Kare no ryouri no ude wa origamitsuki da.
Everyone agrees he's a superb cook.
- 折る or 折れる? 折る (oru) is to fold or break something; 折れる (oreru) is for something to break or bend by itself. 折れる can also mean to turn a corner, the sense you see in 右折 (usetsu), a right turn.
- 骨を折る (hone o oru) has an idiomatic meaning, too: to go to a lot of trouble for something.
- 千羽鶴 (senbazuru), a string of a thousand paper cranes, is often folded as a wish for someone’s recovery, or for peace.
Words with the same kanji
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 折る | oru | to fold; to break |
| 折れる | oreru | to break; to turn |
| 骨折 | kossetsu | broken bone |
| 右折 | usetsu | right turn |
| 手紙 | tegami | letter |
| 和紙 | washi | Japanese paper |
Remember it
A hand (扌) with an axe (斤) over a sheet of paper (紙). Bring it down gently and you get a fold. Too hard, and you get a break.
The kanji in this lesson
Tap Draw it to watch the stroke order. Numbers show where each stroke starts.