Etymology

ninja

N1I1N1J8A1

Today it means: One trained in ninjutsu, especially one used for espionage, assassination, and other tasks requiring stealth during Japan's shogunate period. Full definition →

Japanese 忍者
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ninja · noun, adjective, verb1

  1. Japanese · borrowed from忍者
  2. English todayninja

Borrowed from Japanese 忍者 (ninja), of uncertain derivation but with an underlying sense of secret or hidden person. Popularized in Japanese by manga after World War II and in English by the 1980 novel The Ninja by Eric Van Lustbader and the 1981 movie Enter the Ninja Noun sense 3.1 (“Mongolian miner”) arose from the supposed resemblance of the bowls used to wash ore with mercury to the shells of the main characters from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Juggalo slang sense arose via influence from AAVE nigga.

Ninja · noun2

From ninja.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.