"benshi" meaning in English

See benshi in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: benshi [plural], benshis [plural]
Etymology: From Japanese 弁士 (benshi). Etymology templates: {{bor|en|ja|弁士|tr=benshi}} Japanese 弁士 (benshi) Head templates: {{en-noun|benshi|s}} benshi (plural benshi or benshis)
  1. A Japanese performer who provides live narration for silent films. Wikipedia link: benshi
    Sense id: en-benshi-en-noun-1OnsodQK Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ja",
        "3": "弁士",
        "tr": "benshi"
      },
      "expansion": "Japanese 弁士 (benshi)",
      "name": "bor"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Japanese 弁士 (benshi).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "benshi",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "benshis",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "benshi",
        "2": "s"
      },
      "expansion": "benshi (plural benshi or benshis)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              60,
              67
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2003 October 3, Jonathan Rosenbaum, “See the World”, in Chicago Reader:",
          "text": "Silent Japanese films had explainers and narrators known as benshis, who became so popular that the Japanese commonly went to movies to see their favorite benshi rather than their favorite actor.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              196,
              202
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2007 May 7, Dennis Lim, “Newfangled Silent Movie With a Bit of Old Barnum”, in New York Times:",
          "text": "The film had its premiere in September at the Toronto International Film Festival with an orchestra, a singer (billed as a castrato), an interlocutor (a tradition derived from the Japanese art of benshi) and sound effects by Foley artists in lab coats.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A Japanese performer who provides live narration for silent films."
      ],
      "id": "en-benshi-en-noun-1OnsodQK",
      "wikipedia": [
        "benshi"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "benshi"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ja",
        "3": "弁士",
        "tr": "benshi"
      },
      "expansion": "Japanese 弁士 (benshi)",
      "name": "bor"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Japanese 弁士 (benshi).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "benshi",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "benshis",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "benshi",
        "2": "s"
      },
      "expansion": "benshi (plural benshi or benshis)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English indeclinable nouns",
        "English lemmas",
        "English nouns",
        "English nouns with irregular plurals",
        "English terms borrowed from Japanese",
        "English terms derived from Japanese",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              60,
              67
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2003 October 3, Jonathan Rosenbaum, “See the World”, in Chicago Reader:",
          "text": "Silent Japanese films had explainers and narrators known as benshis, who became so popular that the Japanese commonly went to movies to see their favorite benshi rather than their favorite actor.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              196,
              202
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2007 May 7, Dennis Lim, “Newfangled Silent Movie With a Bit of Old Barnum”, in New York Times:",
          "text": "The film had its premiere in September at the Toronto International Film Festival with an orchestra, a singer (billed as a castrato), an interlocutor (a tradition derived from the Japanese art of benshi) and sound effects by Foley artists in lab coats.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A Japanese performer who provides live narration for silent films."
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
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      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "benshi"
}

Download raw JSONL data for benshi meaning in English (1.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-18 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-04-03 using wiktextract (ada610d and ea19a0a). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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