I've been wondering if the word "Shinobi" is an accepted English word. As far as I know, its synonym "Ninja" is an accepted English word where "Spy" is the nearest common English.
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2I've personally never encountered it. Did you check any English dictionaries?– Dan BronAug 11, 2014 at 1:24
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1It's certainly not common. I suspect it may fight against ninja for currency.– user867Aug 11, 2014 at 1:50
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No. Why would I use a rarely known Japanese word, when I had an English word for it already?– Blessed GeekAug 11, 2014 at 2:56
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The simple answer is no, as of writing. Japanese words like Katana, Ninja etc are beloved by the English-speaking countries. The new one you mention could well be used by, say, a motorbike company or something as a model name, or perhaps a film title, and it would become more and more popular, perhaps .. joining old favorites such as "ninja".– FattieAug 11, 2014 at 7:06
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Joe Blow, I haven't heard of the word Katana. Where in the English-speaking world is it used and what does it mean?– Tristan rAug 11, 2014 at 10:53
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1 Answer
Depends on the audience. For a general audience, it seems shinobi would not be understood.
Wikipedia has a list of English words of Japanese origin, and shinobi is not on that list, not that educated native speakers would be expected to know all those words, however.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Japanese_origin
Some native speakers of English who are pretty fluent in Japanese (such as myself) don’t even know the word shinobi. Just don’t read much about ninjas, I guess.
However, in the context of ninjas, shinobi does seems to be understood. Here is a book title at Amazon that uses the term:
The Secret Traditions of the Shinobi: Hattori Hanzo's Shinobi Hiden and Other Ninja Scrolls
answered Aug 11, 2014 at 1:52
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Agreed. I know I've heard it in videogame contexts, but I don't think I'd expect any English speaker to know it. Aug 11, 2014 at 4:37