Ainu
Americannoun
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Ainus,
plural
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Ainu
plural
-
a member of an aboriginal population of northernmost Japan.
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the language of the Ainu.
noun
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a member of the aboriginal people of Japan, now mostly intermixed with Mongoloid immigrants whose skin colour is more yellowish
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the language of this people, sometimes tentatively associated with Altaic, still spoken in parts of Hokkaido and elsewhere
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Ainu
Ainu: man
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Masaru Okawa, executive director of the Hokkaido Ainu Association, said the Edinburgh skulls should be returned to Japan for "respectful memorialisation".
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2025
PhD student Nathan Sydenham said Dr Munro had "empathised" with the Ainu people and their struggle to preserve their culture.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2025
For example, Hitoshi Watanabe focused on ethnographic data about the Ainu, an Indigenous population in northern Japan and its surrounding areas.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 17, 2023
Although Watanabe documented Ainu women hunting, often with the aid of dogs, he dismissed this finding in his interpretations and placed the focus squarely on men as the primary meat winners.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 17, 2023
The Ainu are more nearly the descendants of Japan’s ancient Jomon inhabitants, mixed with Korean genes of Yayoi colonists and of the modern Japanese.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
From far-off Hokkaido, lured by an enterprising Tokyo promoter, a tribe of Japan's aboriginal Ainus came to stage the first touring performance of their ancient bear festival.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Hairy Ainus of Japan catch salmon with grizzly bears.
From Time Magazine Archive
For Tokyo audiences, the Ainus only pretended to kill the bear and drink his blood.
From Time Magazine Archive
His evidence is that the Ainus, unlike any other tribes in northern Asia: > Wear loincloths in summer.
From Time Magazine Archive
It may also cover the whole body, a condition which is normal in the Ainus of Japan.
From Degeneracy Its Causes, Signs and Results by Eugene S. Talbot
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