wabi-sabi

noun

wa·​bi-sa·​bi ˈwä-bē-ˈsä-bē 

variants or less commonly wabi sabi or Wabi-Sabi or Wabi Sabi

: a philosophy of Japanese origin that emphasizes the aesthetic value in imperfect and impermanent things and the transient nature of life and that embraces the beauty in simple everyday objects

To discover wabi-sabi is to see the singular beauty in something that may first look decrepit and ugly.

—Robyn Griggs Lawrence

I'm really informed and inspired by the Japanese philosophy of Wabi-Sabi which says you find beauty in things that are imperfect.

—Joyce Seymore, quoted in Country Home

… wabi-sabi: a worldview centred on the acceptance of transience, imperfection and the beauty found in simplicity.

—Ella Tennant

also : the qualities of imperfection, impermanence, and simplicity considered as beautiful

Likewise, the kitchen sink is a soapstone bowl … that features exposed copper piping, a bit of wabi-sabi that lightens the creamy surfaces of the space.

—Alex Bozikovic

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Japanese, from wabi "austere beauty" (Old Japanese, "loneliness, disheartenment," noun derivative from the base of wabiru "to feel disheartened") + sabi "aged appearance, rustic patina" (Old Japanese, "rust, patina," noun derivative from the stem of sabiru "to feel lonely, rust, corrode")

First Known Use

1963, in the meaning defined above