Etymologically
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samurai

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 03:21. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /ˈsæməˌɹaɪ/[1]
  • UK: /ˈsæm(j)ʊɹaɪ/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Japanese 侍 (samurai, “warrior, knight; guard”),[2][3][4][5] a variant of さぶらい (saburai),[3] the noun of a verb meaning "to be in attendance, to serve".[3][6] The American Heritage Dictionary analyses the older form of the word as a prefix of unknown meaning and a frequentative of a verb meaning "to guard".[7][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A member of the class of military retainers of the daimios in feudal Japan: 1727, in J. G. Scheuchzer's translation of Engelbert Kaempfer's History of Japan.[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

The word was soon used more widely for a member of the military caste of Japan as a whole, the warrior aristocracy that provided the country's administrators and fighters until the 19th century.[2][8][9] A figurative and transferred use, for someone compared with such a warrior, is recorded from 1905, in H. G. Wells's A Modern Utopia,[2] and Evans's dictionary of Japanese loanwords quotes Newsweek (1992) on "the Japanese corporate samurai".[10] The attributive use, "of the samurai", dates from the late 19th century.[11][10]

Timeline

  • 1727 – a military retainer of a daimio in feudal Japan.[2][4][3]
  • late 19th century – used attributively, of the samurai.[11]
  • 1905 – transferred and figurative use.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. In feudal Japan, a member of the warrior class that served the daimyos, bound by the code of bushido: The samurai carried two swords as a sign of rank.[9][8][2]
  2. The Japanese warrior aristocracy as a class.[8][9][10]
  3. A person likened to such a warrior, as a determined business executive.[2][10]

Adjective

  1. Of or relating to the samurai: samurai armour.[11][10]
  • bushido
  • daimyo

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ a b c d e Evans, Tom (1997), A Dictionary of Japanese Loanwords, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press
  11. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press