ninja
English edit
Etymology edit
A romanized borrowing of Japanese 忍者 (ninja), popularized within Japanese by manga after World War II and in English by Eric Van Lustbader's 1980 novel The Ninja and the 1981 movie Enter the Ninja, of uncertain derivation but with an underlying sense of secret or hidden person.
The “Mongolian miner” sense arose from the supposed resemblance of the bowls used to wash ore with mercury to the shells of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The Juggalo slang sense arose via influence from AAVE nigga.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
ninja (plural ninja or ninjas)
- (martial arts) A person trained in ninjutsu, especially (historical) one used for espionage, assassination, and other tasks requiring stealth during Japan's shogunate period.
- 1964, Ian Fleming, You Only Live Twice, page 126:
- The men... are now learning to be ninja or ‘stealers-in’.
- 2000 October 15, Denver Post, page 10:
- Spies prowled Japan from the seventh century, but the secretive ninja left few written records.
- 2004 July 7, Will Tuttle, quoting Jason Jones, “Halo 2 - Everything We Know!”, in GameSpy.com[2], archived from the original on 10 November 2021:
- (figurative) A person considered similarly skillful to the historical ninja, especially in covert or stealthy operation.
- 1972 September 11, Newsweek, Int'l ed., p. 28:
- For months the Japanese spoke of national-security adviser Henry Kissinger as a ninja—the magician of Japanese legends who performs supernatural acts and practices sorcery.
- 1987 August 3, Business Week, page 40:
- Other bankers are dubbing themselves ninja, modern-day descendants of the superspies of 17th century samurai houses.
- 1991 August 4, The Guardian, page 13:
- Young banking and securities firms executives (nicknamed the ninja...) are especially assigned to cultivate relations with the finance ministry. Only verbal instructions are ever given to the ninja.
- 1972 September 11, Newsweek, Int'l ed., p. 28:
- (figurative) A person considered to look like the historical ninja in some way, including (historical slang) an amateur private miner in Mongolia.
- 1998 December 28, Chicago Tribune, page 1:
- He immediately suspected they were ninjas because, he said, they were dressed in black and wore masks, trademarks of the mysterious assassins who have been sowing terror across East Java in recent months.
- 2003 February 21, Business Times::
- Yen buyers were more subdued... fearing the Bank of Japan's new strategy of covert intervention to buy U.S. dollars through agent banks—described by some as the central bank's ninjas or secret agents.
- 2007 October 10, Jonathan Watts, “Prospectors and 'Ninja' Miners Flood to East's El Dorado”, in The Guardian:
- Many were former nomads, but as the gold rush gathered pace, students, vets and taxi drivers from Ulan Bator joined the ninjas, not just in Ogoomor but in other gold towns across the country.
- (African-American Vernacular) Synonym of nigga as a friendly term of address.
- 2003, Steven Ayromlooi, Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood, spoken by LEPRECHAUN:
- What's up, ninjas?
Synonyms edit
- (person trained in ninjutsu): shinobi, assassin, spy
- (figurative covert agent): killer, spy, superspy, magician, secret agent
Hyponyms edit
- (person trained in ninjutsu): kunoichi
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
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Adjective edit
ninja (not comparable)
- Of or related to ninjas in their various senses.
- 1966 October, Black Belt, page 5:
- The July 1966 issue had a cartoon concerning a Ninja dojo.
- 1971 May, Black Belt, page 40:
- One of the most controversial characters in Japan's current ninja boom is a stout but surprisingly agile man in his mid-forties named Norihiro Iga-Hakuyusai.
- 1995 August 28, Time, page 36:
- […] Federal agents in body armor and black ninja uniforms […]
- 2002 August 31, The Guardian, page 2:
- As they broke camp, the teenage son practised his Ninja moves with a tentpole.
Verb edit
ninja (third-person singular simple present ninjas, present participle ninjaing, simple past and past participle ninjaed or ninja'd)
- (transitive, intransitive) To act or move like a ninja, particularly with regard to a combination of speed, power, and stealth.
- 1996 April 23, Rocky Mountain News, page 5:
- In our dark house we were ninja-ing around with water guns.
- 2002 August 29, Los Angeles Times, page 48:
- I ninja'd my way into Kung Fu Records to hang out with those merry pranksters the Vandals.
- (Internet slang) Synonym of preempt: to supersede and invalidate a response by posting immediately before it.
- When I hit post, I saw that Blue Emu had ninja'd me, so I just deleted my reply.
- (online gaming slang) To claim an item through abuse of game mechanics.
- That damn warrior ninja'd an epic-quality wand even though he can't even use it!
References edit
- “ninja, n. and adj.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2003.
- “ninja, v.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Anagrams edit
Danish edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
ninja c (singular definite ninjaen, plural indefinite ninjaer)
- ninja
- 2016, Kristoffer Jacob Andersen, Lord Kenshus forbandelse, Tellerup A/S, →ISBN:
- „Ninjaer er blot simple spioner.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 2014, Lise Bidstrup, Shinobi #5: Ninja-genfærd, Tellerup A/S, →ISBN:
- Disse ninjaer var uhyggelige, tågeagtige skikkelser.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 2016, Anders Matthesen, Ternet Ninja, Rosinante & Co, →ISBN:
- Aske kunne se syningerne i ninjaens dragt.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 2002, Kejserens atlas, Gyldendal A/S, →ISBN, page 184:
- „Nattergalegulvet", der sladrede om ninjaens trin, blev et kuriosum.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Declension edit
common gender |
Singular | Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
nominative | ninja | ninjaen | ninjaer | ninjaerne |
genitive | ninjas | ninjaens | ninjaers | ninjaernes |
References edit
- “ninja” in Den Danske Ordbog
Finnish edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
ninja
Declension edit
Inflection of ninja (Kotus type 9/kala, no gradation) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
nominative | ninja | ninjat | ||
genitive | ninjan | ninjojen | ||
partitive | ninjaa | ninjoja | ||
illative | ninjaan | ninjoihin | ||
singular | plural | |||
nominative | ninja | ninjat | ||
accusative | nom. | ninja | ninjat | |
gen. | ninjan | |||
genitive | ninjan | ninjojen ninjainrare | ||
partitive | ninjaa | ninjoja | ||
inessive | ninjassa | ninjoissa | ||
elative | ninjasta | ninjoista | ||
illative | ninjaan | ninjoihin | ||
adessive | ninjalla | ninjoilla | ||
ablative | ninjalta | ninjoilta | ||
allative | ninjalle | ninjoille | ||
essive | ninjana | ninjoina | ||
translative | ninjaksi | ninjoiksi | ||
abessive | ninjatta | ninjoitta | ||
instructive | — | ninjoin | ||
comitative | See the possessive forms below. |
Further reading edit
- “ninja”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish][4] (online dictionary, continuously updated, in Finnish), Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03
Indonesian edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Japanese 忍者 (ninja).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
ninja (first-person possessive ninjaku, second-person possessive ninjamu, third-person possessive ninjanya)
- (historical) ninja, a person trained in ninjutsu, especially one used for espionage, assassination, and other tasks requiring stealth during Japan's shogunate period.
- unidentified assassin with black clothes and mask
Further reading edit
- “ninja” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.
Italian edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
ninja m (invariable)
Japanese edit
Romanization edit
ninja
Coordinate terms edit
Polish edit
Etymology edit
Unadapted borrowing from English ninja.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
ninja m pers (indeclinable)[1]
- (espionage, historical, martial arts) ninja (person trained in ninjutsu, especially one used for espionage, assassination, and other tasks requiring stealth during Japan's shogunate period)
Declension edit
or
Indeclinable.
References edit
- ^ Maciej Malinowski (27.05.2012) Poradnia Językowa PWN [Language clinic PWN][1], Polish Scientific Publishers PWN
Further reading edit
Portuguese edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
- Hyphenation: nin‧ja
Noun edit
ninja m or f by sense (plural ninjas)
- (martial arts, historical) ninja (person trained in stealth, espionage, assassination and ninjutsu)
Spanish edit
Alternative forms edit
Pronunciation edit
- Rhymes: -inʝa
Noun edit
ninja m or f by sense (plural ninjas)
- (martial arts, historical) ninja (person trained in stealth, espionage, assassination and ninjutsu)
Further reading edit
- “ninja”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Swedish edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Japanese 忍者 (ninja).
Noun edit
ninja c
- a ninja
Declension edit
Declension of ninja | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | ninja | ninjan | ninjor | ninjorna |
Genitive | ninjas | ninjans | ninjors | ninjornas |
References edit
Turkish edit
Etymology edit
From French ninja, from Japanese 忍者 (ninja).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
ninja (definite accusative ninjayı, plural ninjalar)
Declension edit
Inflection | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | ninja | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Definite accusative | ninjayı | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Singular | Plural | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nominative | ninja | ninjalar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Definite accusative | ninjayı | ninjaları | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dative | ninjaya | ninjalara | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Locative | ninjada | ninjalarda | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ablative | ninjadan | ninjalardan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Genitive | ninjanın | ninjaların | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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