Meraki
noun /meˈrɑːki/ — Pouring your soul into what you create.
Definition
A Greek word for the soul, creativity, or love put into something; doing something with complete devotion and leaving a piece of yourself in your work.
Beyond the definition
The word for the feeling when you don't just make something — you put yourself into it. Used by craftspeople, chefs, artists, teachers. It's the quality that makes handmade things feel different from mass-produced ones.
Origin & history
From modern Greek μεράκι — doing something with love and creativity, giving it everything you have.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
The food was made with meraki — every dish was personal.
She could see the meraki in the woodwork — this person hadn't just built a chair; they'd made an object of devotion.
Meraki is why some things feel different from everything else.
Synonyms
devotion, soul, passion, love of craft, creative soul
Antonyms
indifference, perfunctory, going through the motions
Related words
Meraki vs dedication
Meraki specifically refers to putting your soul, creativity, and love into a task or craft. Dedication is a broader, more functional term describing commitment and time spent on a goal.
Word in the Wild
See how this word appears in life, language and stories.
Illustrative sentences and imagined stories for learning — not verified sightings, interviews, or sourced quotations.
Fictional scene
Restorer working on ancient mosaic
A restorer works with a magnifying glass on the tiny, intricate fragments of an ancient mosaic, with total devotion.
The devoted attention to the fine details of the mosaic shows the soul and love put into the work, where the restorer leaves a piece of themselves in the repair.
Image credit: Wordspun · AI-generated conceptual illustration