Standard Lemma guide

shiatsu

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ʃiːˈɑːt.suː/
  • /ʃiːˈæt.suː/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A form of massage, using the thumbs and palms, employed as therapy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

treatment of symptoms by applying pressure with the fingers to specific pressure points on the body

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: acupressure, G-Jo

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: treatment, intervention

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 指(し)圧(あつ) (shiatsu), from Middle Chinese 指 (MC tsyijX, “finger”) + 壓 (MC 'aep, “downward force”).

Across languages

Translations

11 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 指壓 /指压 (zhǐyā) — shiatsu
  • Finnish: shiatsu — shiatsu
  • French: shiatsu — shiatsu
  • German: Shiatsu — shiatsu
  • Japanese: 指圧 (shiatsu) — shiatsu
  • Korean: 지압 (jiap) — shiatsu
  • Russian: шиа́цу (šiácu) — shiatsu
  • Russian: сиа́цу (siácu) — shiatsu
  • Russian: акупрессу́ра (akupressúra) — shiatsu
  • Spanish: shiatsu — shiatsu
  • Spanish: digitopuntura — shiatsu