# ninja

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈnɪnd͡ʒə/ · frequency rank #8,700

## Definitions
1. A person trained in ninjutsu, especially (historical) one used for espionage, assassination, and other tasks requiring stealth during Japan's shogunate period.
2. A person considered similarly skillful to the historical ninja, especially in covert or stealthy operation.
3. A person considered similarly skillful to the historical ninja, especially in covert or stealthy operation.
4. A person considered similarly skillful to the historical ninja, especially in covert or stealthy operation.
5. A person considered to look like the historical ninja in some way, including (historical slang) an amateur private miner in Mongolia.
6. Synonym of nigga as a friendly term of address.
7. Synonym of nigga as a friendly term of address.
8. nigger.

## Etymology
A 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.

## Easily confused with
- **ninth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ninja-vs-ninth)
- **Nisha** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ninja-vs-nisha)
- **nia** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nia-vs-ninja)
- **nin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nin-vs-ninja)
- **nine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nine-vs-ninja)
- **Nina** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nina-vs-ninja)
- **nana** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nana-vs-ninja)
- **nigga** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nigga-vs-ninja)
- **nines** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nines-vs-ninja)
- **Nanda** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nanda-vs-ninja)

## Common misspellings (7)
`innja`, `nijna`, `ninaj`, `ninjja`, `ninnja`, `nnija`, `nninja`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/ninja