ninja
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈnɪnd͡ʒə/
rhymes: -ɪndʒə
Forms: form: ninja
form: ninjas
Etymology: 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.
Senses: examples: text: He used to work in the Japanese agency as a ninja.
text: The men... are now learning to be ninja or ‘stealers-in’.
ref: 1964, Ian Fleming, You Only Live Twice, page 126:
text: Spies prowled Japan from the seventh century, but the secretive ninja left few written records.
ref: 2000 October 15, Denver Post, page 10:
topics: government
hobbies
lifestyle
martial-arts
military
politics
sports
war
glosses: A person trained in ninjutsu, especially (historical) one used for espionage, assassination, and other tasks requiring stealth during Japan's shogunate period.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1972 September 11, Newsweek, Int'l ed., p. 28
text: Other bankers are dubbing themselves ninja, modern-day descendants of the superspies of 17th century samurai houses.
ref: 1987 August 3, Business Week, page 40:
text: 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.
ref: 1991 August 4, The Guardian, page 13:
text: A JavaScript ninja should write lots of code and build things!
ref: 2017, Darren Jones, JavaScript: Novice to Ninja, SitePoint, →ISBN:
glosses: A person considered similarly skillful to the historical ninja, especially in covert or stealthy operation.
examples: text: I had TOTK running on my pc 2 weeks before it released on the switch and I'm still here. They can send the ninjas, I'm waiting.
ref: 2024 January 23, @tetsuo_88, Twitter:
text: Nintendo ninjas were inside the discord, watching. Now all the Yuzu devs have turned over all electronic devices, websites, logs...
ref: 2024 March 5, @HikikomoriMedia, Twitter:
topics: lifestyle
video-games
glosses: A person considered similarly skillful to the historical ninja, especially in covert or stealthy operation.
A notional draconian arm of a corporation (originally Nintendo), tasked with dealing with individuals that infringe on its rights or do not comply with its regulations.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1998 December 28, Chicago Tribune, page 1:
text: 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.
ref: 2003 February 21, Business Times::
text: 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.
ref: 2007 October 10, Jonathan Watts, “Prospectors and 'Ninja' Miners Flood to East's El Dorado”, in The Guardian:
glosses: A person considered to look like the historical ninja in some way, including (historical slang) an amateur private miner in Mongolia.
examples: text: What's up, ninjas?
ref: 2003, Steven Ayromlooi, Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood, spoken by LEPRECHAUN:
text: I'm thicker than a Snicker, I'm thicker than your ninja!
ref: 2024, “BBL Drizzy”, King Willonius (lyrics):
qualifier: African-American Vernacular
glosses: Synonym of nigga as a friendly term of address.
synonyms: word: nigga as a friendly term of address
examples: text: What up, my ninja!
qualifier: African-American Vernacular; Juggalo slang; Juggalo slang
glosses: Synonym of nigga as a friendly term of address.
Synonym of man as a friendly term of address.
synonyms: word: man as a friendly term of address
glosses: nigger.
Synonyms: sense: person trained in ninjutsu
word: shinobi
sense: person trained in ninjutsu
word: assassin
sense: person trained in ninjutsu
word: spy
sense: figurative covert agent
word: killer
sense: figurative covert agent
word: spy
sense: figurative covert agent
word: superspy
sense: figurative covert agent
word: magician
sense: figurative covert agent
word: secret agent
Hyponyms: sense: person trained in ninjutsu
word: kunoichi
Derived terms: Fruit Ninja champion
ginger ninja
mall ninja
ninja cop
ninja foot
ninja gym
ninjalike
ninja loot
ninja looter
ninja miner
ninja star
ninja sword
ninja van
ninjette
ninja rock
Related terms: ninja loan
NINJA loan
ninjato
ninjutsu
ninjitsu
ninpo