Word
kino
Phoneticski·no
UK/kˈiːnəʊ/
Definitions
01botanical resin
n. a sticky substance, like sap, that comes from certain trees and is used in medicine or for dyeing clothes.
n. a brittle, dark red botanical gum or resin obtained from various tropical trees, used as an astringent in pharmacology and as a tanning agent.
“The scientist collected the red kino from the tree bark to test its medicinal properties.”
“The indigenous community has long harvested kino from the bloodwood trees for its potent astringent properties and its utility in dyeing traditional fabrics.”
Technical
Usage
Usually functions as an uncountable noun when referring to the substance generally.
Teaching tip
This is a highly specialised botanical term; learners will likely only encounter it in scientific or historical texts about forestry and medicine.
02high-quality cinema
n. a slang word for movies that are considered high art or very sophisticated.
n. a term used in online film communities to denote cinema of high artistic merit or sophisticated aesthetic quality.
“He only watches black-and-white foreign films because he says they are real kino.”
“The forum was filled with heated debates over whether the director's latest experimental feature truly qualified as kino or was merely pretentious.”
Slang · Informal
Usage
Often used ironically or within specific online subcultures like 'Film Twitter' or message boards.
Teaching tip
This sense is very modern and restricted to internet culture. It is often used with a touch of irony or elitism.
Antonyms
03grand or cinematic
adj. describing something that feels like a great, artistic movie.
adj. pertaining to a grand, artistic, or highly cinematic quality in media or real-life situations.
“The way the light hit the mountains was so kino.”
“The cinematographer's use of long takes and natural lighting gave the entire sequence a remarkably kino feel that resonated with critics.”
Slang · Informal
Teaching tip
Like the noun sense, this adjective use is almost exclusively found in online spaces dedicated to film discussion.
Etymology
18th century. Perhaps borrowed from Mandingo cano, or from a language of the East Indies.
From Russian кино́ (kinó, “movie; cinema”), via Kino-Eye and Dziga Vertov's identification of his film Man with a Movie Camera as "ABSOLUTE KINOGRAPHY".
Coined by Ross Jeffries, from kinesthesia.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.