What does “kunoichi” mean in Japanese?
Native speakers say “kunoichi” to mean ‘female ninja’ in Japanese. Perhaps, some Japanese learners know this word as it is sometimes used in Japanese movies, video games, novels, manga, anime, and the like. In this blog post, however, I will explain this word in detail together with its origin. And also, I will explain how to use it through example sentences. My explanations would help Japanese learners understand “kunoichi” more clearly. Then, let’s get started!
Contents
Definition and meaning of “kunoichi”
Let me start with the definition and meaning of “kunoichi”.
- kunoichi – くノ一 (くのいち) : a noun meaning ‘female ninja’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural. Learn more about Japanese plural.
Native speakers use this noun to refer to a female who was trained in a very special way and uses special skills called Ninjutsu.
The definition and meaning are simple and clear. To understand this noun more clearly, however, let me explain its origin in detail.
What did “kunoichi” originally mean in Japanese?
“Kunoichi” consists of the following three characters:
- く : the hiragana character for the ku sound.
- ノ : the katakana character for the no sound.
- 一 : a kanji character widely used as a numeral to mean ‘one’ in Japanese.
To tell the truth, these three characters can form “女” which is a kanji character for women. Conversely, these characters were derived from the kanji character to imply a gender of a ninja. Probably, knowing the gender of opponents was very important to fight against them.
When we meet new Japanese words, we should check their origins in detail to understand their meanings clearly and deeply. In many cases, word origins tell us a lot about their current meanings. Actually, here, we could get the better understanding of “kunoichi” through the detailed check above.
So far, I’ve explained the definition and meaning of “kunoichi” together with its origin. Then, let me explain how to use it through the example sentences below.
Example #1: how to say “female ninja” in Japanese
watashi wa kunoichi ni nari tai – 私はくノ一になりたい (わたしはくのいちになりたい)
I want to become a female ninja.
Below are the new words used in the example sentence.
- watashi – 私 (わたし) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’ in Japanese.
- wa – は : a binding particle working as a case marker or topic marker. In the example, this works after “watashi” to make the subject in the sentence.
- ni – に : a case particle used to say what someone or something becomes after a change or action. In the example, this is used after “kunoichi” to say what the speaker wants to become.
- nari – なり : one conjugation of the verb, “naru”, which means ‘to become’, ‘to turn’, ‘to get’, or such in Japanese. In the example, it has been conjugated for the better connection with its following word.
- tai – たい : an auxiliary verb used after a verb to make its desire form. In the example, this is used after “nari” to make its desire form, “nari tai”, which means ‘to want to become’ in Japanese.
This is a typical usage of “kunoichi”. In this example, it works together with the case particle, “ni”, to become the object in the sentence.
Example #2: another usage of “kunoichi”
kanojo wa kinou kunoichi wo mi ta – 彼女は昨日くノ一を見た (かのじょはきのうくのいちをみた)
She saw female ninjas yesterday.
Below are the new words used in the example sentence.
- kanojo – 彼女 (かのじょ) : a pronoun meaning ‘she’ in Japanese.
- kinou – 昨日 (きのう) : a noun meaning ‘yesterday’ in Japanese. This can also work as an adverb almost anywhere in a sentence. In the example, this works as an adverb in the middle of the sentence to mean ‘yesterday’ in Japanese.
- wo – を : a case particle used to make the object word in a sentence. In the example, this is used after “kunoichi” to make the object in the sentence.
- mi – 見 (み) : one conjugation of the verb, “miru“, which means ‘to see’ in Japanese. In the example, it has been conjugated for the better connection with its following word.
- ta – た : an auxiliary verb used after a verb, adjective, or auxiliary verb to make its past tense form. In the example, this is used after “mi” to make its past tense form, “mi ta”.
This is another typical usage of “kunoichi”. In this example, it works as plural to mean ‘female ninjas’ in Japanese.
Summary
In this blog post, I’ve explained the definition and meaning of “kunoichi” in detail based on its origin. And also, I’ve explained how to use it through the example sentences. Let me summarize them as follows.
- kunoichi – くノ一 (くのいち) : a noun meaning ‘female ninja’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural. This noun consists of “く”, “ノ”, and “一”. These three characters can form “女” which is a kanji character for women. Conversely, these characters were derived from the kanji character to imply a gender of a ninja. Probably, knowing the gender of opponents was very important to fight against them.
Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.
Leave a Reply