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Bun·ra·ku

(bn-räk, bnrä′-)

A traditional Japanese dramatic art form featuring large puppets operated by onstage puppeteers, typically cloaked in black clothing, with a narrative that is recited by a chanter. The puppets have heads, hands, and feet of wood attached to a bodiless cloth costume.

[Japanese, after the Bunraku-za, a puppet theater established in Osaka in 1805 by Bunrakuken Oemurea (1751-1810), Japanese puppeteer.]

(click for a larger image)

Bunraku

puppets and their puppeteers (shrouded in black)

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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