gaijin
Americannoun
plural
gaijinnoun
Etymology
Origin of gaijin
C20: Japanese, a contraction of gaikoku-jin, from gaikoku foreign country + jin person
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.
These chefs are quick to acknowledge their status as gaijin and students, not masters, of the dishes they’ve come to love.
From New York Times • Sep. 2, 2019
Teams play in most of the major tourist destinations all over the country, the tickets are cheap, and the friendly fans tolerate gaijin, or foreigners.
From The Wall Street Journal • Aug. 24, 2018
He was a foreigner — a gaijin — an identity that came with both privileges and limitations, and Buruma liked the limitations as much as the privileges.
From New York Times • Mar. 15, 2018
The writer Junot Díaz, who visits his best friend in Tokyo regularly, says, "Like many a veteran gaijin, I have definitely fallen under the spell of Japanese hyper-specialization."
From New York Times • Sep. 20, 2012
My immigrant self grooved on the familiarity of being an utter stranger, of being gaijin No. 1; it was not so long before that America had been as incomprehensible to me as Japan.
From Newsweek • Mar. 20, 2011
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
