From German Kitsch, from dialectal kitschen (“to coat, to smear”); the word and concept were popularized in the 1930s by several critics who contrasted it with avant-garde art.
Meanings
Of art and decor: of questionable aesthetic value; excessively sentimental, overdone or vulgar.
We don’t see the design or construction of the Trojan Horse; instead, a kitsch, poorly designed horse (with no wheels) appears on the windswept beach as if dumped there by drone. 2026 August 13, Emily Wilson, “An Uncomplicated Man”, in London Review of Books:
I recognized her at once even though she wasn't wearing the tweed hunting outfit and the kitsch headwear. spring 2005, Ronald Frame, “Critical Paranoia”, in Michigan Quarterly Review, page 285:
[…] a picture of lemur-eyed children of the sort one sees in the kitscher sort of Italian restaurant […] 1989, Graham Greene, Yours etc: Letters to the Press 1945-1989, →ISBN, page 243:
Abe Lincoln, Paul Bunyan and kitsch souvenir coconut heads come across as icons of masculinity. June/July 1996, Robert Silberman, “The stuff of art: Judy Onofrio”, in American Craft, pages 40–45:
From German Kitsch, from dialectal kitschen (“to coat, to smear”); the word and concept were popularized in the 1930s by several critics who contrasted it with avant-garde art.
Meanings
(uncountable, usually) Art, decorative objects, and other forms of representation of questionable artistic or aesthetic value; a representation that is excessively sentimental, overdone, or vulgar.
Because it can be turned out mechanically, kitsch has become an integral part of our productive system in a way in which true culture could never be, except accidentally. 1939, Clement Greenberg, “Avant Garde and Kitsch”, in The Partisan Review, archived from the original on 13 Oct 2007:
pt kitsch (art of questionable artistic value) · it kitsch (art of questionable artistic value) · fi kitsi (art of questionable artistic value) · fr kitch (art of questionable artistic value) · fi krääsä (art of questionable artistic value) · fi rihkama (art of questionable artistic value) · sk gýč (art of questionable artistic value) · sh кич (art of questionable artistic value) · nl kitsch (art of questionable artistic value) · es cursilería (art of questionable artistic value) · fa کیچ (art of questionable artistic value) · uk кітч (art of questionable artistic value) · ky китч (art of questionable artistic value) · cs kýč (art of questionable artistic value) · cmn 刻奇 (art of questionable artistic value) · mk кич (art of questionable artistic value) · cmn 自我感動 /自我感动 (art of questionable artistic value) · cmn 媚俗 (art of questionable artistic value) · pl kicz (art of questionable artistic value) · cmn 畸趣 (art of questionable artistic value) · sv kitsch (art of questionable artistic value) · eo kiĉo (art of questionable artistic value) · ja キッチュ (art of questionable artistic value) · es kitsch (art of questionable artistic value) · fi kitsch (art of questionable artistic value) · de Kitsch (art of questionable artistic value) · fr kitsch (art of questionable artistic value) · ko 키치 (art of questionable artistic value) · bg кич (art of questionable artistic value) · ky кич (art of questionable artistic value) · az kitç (art of questionable artistic value) · el κιτς (art of questionable artistic value) · he קיטש (art of questionable artistic value) · ru китч (art of questionable artistic value) · uk кіч (art of questionable artistic value) · sh kič (art of questionable artistic value) · hu giccs (art of questionable artistic value)