tatami

noun

ta·​ta·​mi tä-ˈtä-mē 

ta-

plural tatami or tatamis

: straw matting used as a floor covering in a Japanese home

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

But these new apartments — known as three-tatami rooms, based on how many standard Japanese floor mats would cover the living space — are pushing the boundaries of normal living. —Hikari Hida, New York Times, 3 Oct. 2022

By this time, phones up and down the counter have been lifted from their phone-size tatami mats. —Pete Wells, New York Times, 15 Nov. 2022

Okubo's daughter, Atsuko, then emerges from an adjoining room to greet visitors and escort them up a tight flight of stairs to a second-floor tatami room, the traditional setting for the tea ceremony. —Miki Lendon And Brad Lendon, CNN, 6 July 2022

But inside, walking around the two-story buildings, with their unusual mix of Japanese tatami and European furnishings, things are different; exhibits documenting Dejima’s past throw glimmers of light on its former residents. —Rob Goss, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 May 2022

Fitted with traditional tatami flooring, luxuriously comfortable futon mattresses, and enormous soaking tubs, the 84 rooms here ensure complete serenity and peace. —John Wogan, Travel + Leisure, 8 July 2020

Turkey's Bilal Çiloğlu, the world's No. 9 lightweight, screamed and put his fists to his head after Ono pinned him helplessly to the tatami for an ippon, his wails echoing down the corridors. —Greg Beacham, Star Tribune, 26 July 2021

Before her, an audience of hundreds sits on tatami mats. —Ben Dooley, New York Times, 13 Apr. 2020

The roadway was a river of fire, with homes and their contents, tatami mats, futons, rucksacks, all in flames. —Brad Lendon And Emiko Jozuka, CNN, 7 Mar. 2020

See More

Word History

Etymology

Japanese

First Known Use

1614, in the meaning defined above