ninja

[ nin-juh ]

noun

, plural nin·ja, nin·jas.

1. (often initial capital letter) a member of a feudal Japanese society of mercenary agents highly trained in martial arts and stealth ninjutsu, who were hired for covert purposes ranging from espionage to sabotage and assassination.
2. a person who is expert or highly skilled in a specified field or activity (often used attributively):

   marketing ninjas; ninja programmers.

verb (used with object)

, nin·jaed, nin·ja·ing.

1. Also nin·ja loot. Slang. (in a video game) to unfairly claim (valuable items or loot) from a treasure pool by taking them from a kill made by another player or bypassing the agreed-upon system for loot distribution in a group:

   When I ninja an epic item, I log off the server before anyone even realizes what happened.

ninja

/ ˈnɪndʒə /

noun

1. sometimes capital a person skilled in ninjutsu, a Japanese martial art characterized by stealthy movement and camouflage

Word History and Origins

Origin of ninja¹

First recorded in 1960–65; from Japanese, equivalent to nin- “endure” + -ja, combining form of -sha “person, agent” (from Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese rěn + zhě )

Word History and Origins

Origin of ninja¹

Japanese

Example Sentences

A consultation on banning "ninja swords" was also announced this week.

From BBC

Cyber Ninjas had, up until the audit, done occasional work providing security measures for random individual apps, offering this service through a website that featured people wearing actual ninja costumes and wielding katanas.

From Salon

The government would also pass a new law to ban the sale of ninja and samurai swords, she said.

From BBC

Mrs Kanda, whose son Ronan was killed by a boy who had bought a machete and ninja sword set online using a fake name, said she did not believe the ban would have much effect.

From BBC

The Home Office said in addition to Tuesday’s new knife legislation, there was a plan to ban ninja swords.

From BBC