It is said that there have been descriptions concerning wabi since the ancient days of the Manyoshu (Ten Thousand Poems), but the term 'wabi' as a conceptual noun representing a sense of beauty first appeared in "Nanporoku," the tea book during the Edo period; before above, the expression 'soso' (coarse) was used in close meaning, however, it is difficult to say that they are necessarily synonymous since SEN no Rikyu disliked 'soso.'
侘に関する記述は古く万葉集の時代からあると言われているが、「侘」を美意識を表す概念として名詞形で用いる例は江戸時代の茶書『南方録』まで下り、これ以前では「麁相」（そそう）という表現が近いが、千利休などは「麁相」であることを嫌っていたから必ずしも同義とは言い難い。