忍者

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Chinese

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to bear; to endure; to tolerate
to bear; to endure; to tolerate; to restrain oneself
 
‑ist, ‑er (person); person (who does something)
trad. (忍者)
simp. #(忍者)
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Etymology

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Orthographic borrowing from Japanese 忍者 (ninja).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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忍者

  1. (historical) ninja (covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan)
  2. person trained primarily in stealth, espionage, assassination

Japanese

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Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ja
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
忍者 (ninja): a woodblock print of a ninja from the Hokusai Manga, published in 1814.
Kanji in this term
にん
Grade: S
しゃ > じゃ
Grade: 3
goon
Alternative spelling
忍者 (kyūjitai)

Etymology

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Uncertain.

The most consistent term in the historical record appears to be 忍び (shinobi, sneaking, hiding), the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, continuative or stem form) of verb 忍ぶ (shinobu, to endure, to bear; to hide, to conceal oneself; to sneak into or out of a place). This in turn was extended into 忍びの者 (shinobi no mono, sneaking person, person of sneaking),[1][2] cited to a text from 1689.[1]

This ninja reading became more common in Japanese in the modern era,[1] possibly due to a number of popular manga series after World War Two. This reading may have arisen as a shift in reading of the kun'yomi phrase 忍びの者 (shinobi no mono), applying the on'yomi to the kanji alone to create a kanji-compound term.

The sha changes to ja as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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(にん)(じゃ) (ninja

  1. a ninja (person trained in stealth, espionage, assassination and ninjutsu)
    • 2011 April 9, Hideaki Sorachi, “(だい)(さん)(びゃく)(さん)(じゅう)(なな)(くん) だいじょぶだ〰 (Dai-sanbyakusanjūnana-kun Daijobu Da~, Lesson 337: It’s Gonna Be Okay~)”, in [銀](ぎん)[魂](たま) [Silver Soul], volume 39 (fiction), Tokyo: Shueisha, →ISBN:
      いやぁ このデリケートな()()によくやるな お(まえ) あの(ざっ)(しょく)(せい)(ひと)(ばん)であれだけの(かず)をさばくタフさ そして(なに)よりその(はや)さ……お(まえ) (にん)(じゃ)にならねーか?
      Iyā kono derikēto na jiki ni yoku yaru na omae Ano zasshokusei hitoban de are dake no kazu o sabaku tafusa soshite nani yori sono hayasa…… Omae ninja ni naranē ka?
      But you did really well in such a delicate situation. That toughness to omnivorously handle so many in one night, and that speed above all… You wanna be a ninja?
      (にん)(じゃ)にそんなす(ばや)さいらねーだろ‼
      Ninja ni sonna subayasa iranē daro‼
      A ninja doesn’t need that kinda speed!!

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Chinese:
    Mandarin: 忍者 (rěnzhě)
    Cantonese: 忍者 (jan2 ze2)
  • Danish: ninja
  • English: ninja
  • French: ninja
  • German: Ninja
  • Korean: 닌자 (ninja)
  • Macedonian: нинџа (nindža)
  • Portuguese: ninja
  • Russian: ни́ндзя (níndzja)
  • Vietnamese: nhẫn giả

See also

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References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. 2.0 2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
  4. ^ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Vietnamese

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chữ Hán Nôm in this term

Noun

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忍者

  1. chữ Hán form of nhẫn giả (ninja).