ninja
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ninja¹
- /ˈnɪnd͡ʒə/ UK, US
Rhymes with -ɪndʒə
Where it comes from
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.
noun ninja · ninjas
- One trained in ninjutsu, especially one used for espionage, assassination, and other tasks requiring stealth during Japan's shogunate period. He used to work in the Japanese agency as a ninja.
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One who very skillful, considered similar to the historical ninja, especially in covert or stealthy operation.
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.
Similar: killer, spy, superspy, magician, secret agent
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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.
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.
Similar: killer, spy, superspy, magician, secret agent
-
A programmer or tech worker, particularly one skilled in a particular programming language or environment; used especially in job adverts.
A ninja developer can take advantage of this when building large software systems, adding a bit of C# and a dabble of Python.
Similar: killer, spy, superspy, magician, secret agent
- One who is considered to resemble the historical ninja in some way. 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.
- An amateur private miner in Mongolia. 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.
-
Synonym of nigga, used as a friendly term of address.
What's up, ninjas?
Similar: nigga, used as a friendly term of address
-
Synonym of man; used as a friendly term of address.
What up, my ninja!
Similar: man
-
Synonym of nigger.
Similar: nigger
adjective
- Fast and sneaky. After Marshall fell asleep Elisa eventually jumped into the bed with me while I was turned facing away from her. She was very ninja about it as she put it.
verb ninjas · ninjaing · ninjaed · ninja'd
- To act or move like a ninja, particularly with regard to a combination of speed, power, and stealth. I leapt up, ninja'd over to Gav's bed and wheeched the duvet off.
- to beat someone to a post; to make the same reply just before the other party finishes typing, making their response redundant. When I hit post, I saw that Blue Emu had ninja'd me, so I just deleted my reply.
- 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!
NINJA²
adjective
- Initialism of no income, no job or assets, describing credit characteristics of a borrower, usually of a residential mortgage.
Ninja³
Where it comes from
From ninja.
noun Ninjas
- An anti-government Bakongo rebel, active in Pool Department, Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville). To punish a population seen as Ninja sympathisers, the government last year effectively sealed off the entire region and barred all aid, turning Pool into a blank space on the humanitarian map.
Translations
Every language
noun spy and mercenary in pre-modern Japan
| Español | ninja |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 닌자 ninja |
| 日本語 | 忍者 ninja, 忍び shinobi, 忍びの者 shinobi no mono |
| 中文 | 忍者 rěnzhě |
| हिन्दी | निंजा niñjā, निञ्जा niñjā |
| Português | ninja |
| Français | ninja |
| Deutsch | Ninja |
| Italiano | ninja |
| Ελληνικά | νίντζα níntza |
| Русский | ни́ндзя níndzja |
| Tiếng Việt | ninja, nhẫn giả |
| العربية | نِينْجَا nīnjā, نِنْجَا ninjā |
| עברית | נִינְגָ׳ה nínja |
Talk about this word "ninja." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/ninja. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. ninja. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/ninja "ninja." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/ninja.Cite this
@misc{ninja_2026,
title = {ninja},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/ninja},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
