/ˈnɪnd͡ʒə/
OriginA 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.
- A person trained in ninjutsu, especially (historical) 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.”
“The men... are now learning to be ninja or ‘stealers-in’.”
“Spies prowled Japan from the seventh century, but the secretive ninja left few written records.”
- figurativelyA person considered similarly skillful 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.”
“Other bankers are dubbing themselves ninja, modern-day descendants of the superspies of 17th century samurai houses.”
“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.”
- figuratively, in-plural, slangA 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.”
“Nintendo ninjas were inside the discord, watching. Now all the Yuzu devs have turned over all electronic devices, websites, logs...”
- figurativelyA person considered to look like the historical ninja in some way, including (historical slang) an amateur private miner in Mongolia.
“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 mon”
“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.”
“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.”
- euphemisticSynonym of nigga as a friendly term of address.
“What's up, ninjas?”
“I'm thicker than a Snicker, I'm thicker than your ninja!”
- euphemisticSynonym of man as a friendly term of address.
- 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.”
“While the last major clashes were in 2003 in Pool — a southern region between the capital Brazzaville and the port city of Pointe Noire — Ninjas had continued to roam the region, robbing civilians and”
“The Ninjas were loyal to former Prime Minister Bernard Kolelas, the father of Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas, who stood in the presidential election in March and got 15% of the vote.”
- not-comparableOf or related to ninjas in their various senses.
“The July 1966 issue had a cartoon concerning a Ninja dojo.”
“One of the most controversial characters in Japan's current ninja boom is a stout but surprisingly agile man in his mid-forties named Norihiro Iga-Hakuyusai.”
“[…]Federal agents in body armor and black ninja uniforms[…]”
- abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, not-comparableInitialism of no income, no job or assets, describing credit characteristics of a borrower, usually of a residential mortgage.
- ambitransitiveTo 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.”
“In our dark house we were ninja-ing around with water guns.”
“I ninja'd my way into Kung Fu Records to hang out with those merry pranksters the Vandals.”
- Internetto 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.”
- Internet, slangTo 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!”
Formsninja(plural) · ninjas(plural) · ninjas(present, singular, third-person) · ninjaing(participle, present) · ninjaed(participle, past) · ninjaed(past) · ninja'd(participle, past) · ninja'd(past) · Ninjas(plural)