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shunga

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shunga¹

Where it comes from

From Japanese 春画, from Middle Chinese 春 (t͡ʃʰwin "spring", by extension "sexual", "erotic") + 畫 (hwɛ̀ "painting").

noun

  1. uncountable A style of Japanese erotic art The works confound stereotypes of Japanese etiquette, even as they update the tradition of the anatomically explicit shunga print.

Shunga²

  • /ˈʃʊŋə/

Where it comes from

Possibly from Sanskrit शुङ्ग (śuṅga, “fig tree”).

adjective

  1. not comparable Of or relating to the ancient Indian Shunga Empire that flourished between 187 and 78 B.C.E. Under Shunga patronage, the core of the Great Stupa, thought to date from the era of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka (r. ca. 273–232 B.C.), was enlarged to its present diameter of 120 feet, covered with a stone casing, topped with a balcony and umbrella, and encircled with a stone railing.

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MLA

"shunga." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/shunga. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

shunga. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/shunga

Chicago

"shunga." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/shunga.

BibTeX
@misc{shunga_2026,
  title = {shunga},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/shunga},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}