Meanings
jinja1
Jinja2
- A city and district at the north end of Lake Victoria, Uganda.
If cities ailed, Jinja had sleeping sickness. Idi Amin’s sudden expulsion of whites and Asians back in 1972 had hit the city harder than anywhere else. In just over a decade, Jinja’s status as the country’s largest industrial city had become questionable.
2020, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, The First Woman, Oneworld Publications, page 372
Origin
- Old Chinese神社“sacrificial altar, shrine”
- Middle Chinese神社
- Japanese神社
- Englishjinja
Borrowed from Japanese 神社 (じんじゃ, jinja), from Middle Chinese 神社, from Old Chinese 神社 (“sacrificial altar, shrine”), from 神 (*hlin, “deity, divine”) + 社 (*ɦljaːʔ, “Earth deity [and altar]”). Cognate with Mandarin 神社 (shénshè, “shrine”).
More words from Japanese, Middle Chinese, Old Chinese
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
jinja. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jinja
“jinja.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jinja. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “jinja,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jinja.
Source: jinja on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.