sumi

American  

[soo-mee] / ˈsu mi /

noun

Japanese.

1. black ink made from a mixture of plant soot and glue solidified into sticks or cakes the ends of which are scraped or ground into water on an ink slab, much used by calligraphers and painters.

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Example Sentences

Whimsical, slightly spooky creatures in clay and sumi ink by artist Saya Moriyasu emerge in “Ozeki 尾石 — Tail End of a Stone.”

From Seattle Times • Feb. 20, 2024

First, paint one side of the fish with sumi ink, place washi paper atop, then use your fingers to press over the surface to make a print.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 31, 2023

She instead overlaid wire-frame drawings of New York, Cairo and Addis Ababa with forests of short, sharp, freely drawn lines, made with a watery black sumi ink used in East Asian calligraphy.

From New York Times • Mar. 25, 2021

She was regarded as a master in the use of sumi, a traditional Asian ink that is preserved in solid cakes and then mixed with water.

From Washington Post • Mar. 4, 2021

Sacramentum, quod Feria Sexta in Missa Praesanctificatorum sumi debet a celebrante, omni cura ornandum est.

From The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, April 1865 by Various