# bamboo ceiling

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. A social barrier to further promotion or progression, in employment and elsewhere, for a person of East Asian ethnicity.
2. A social barrier to further promotion or progression, in employment and elsewhere, for women.

## Etymology
Modeled on glass ceiling, popularized in 2005 by Jane Hyun in Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling, see quotations.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/bamboo-ceiling