samurai

American  

[sam-oo-rahy] / ˈsæm ʊˌraɪ /

noun

Japanese History.

plural

samurai

1. a member of the hereditary warrior class in feudal Japan.

2. a retainer of a daimyo.

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samurai British  

/ ˈsæmʊˌraɪ, ˈsæmjʊ- /

noun

1. the Japanese warrior caste that provided the administrative and fighting aristocracy from the 11th to the 19th centuries

2. a member of this aristocracy

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Etymology

Origin of samurai

1720–30; < Japanese, earlier samurafi to serve, equivalent to sa- prefix + morafi watchfully wait (frequentative of mor- to guard)

Explanation

Use the noun samurai when you're talking about the elite Japanese warriors who practiced martial arts in pre-industrial Japan. These days you'll only see samurai in movies about Japan, and it's easy to think of them as fictional superheroes. They really did exist, though, and played an important part in Japanese history, as members of the nobility from the tenth century all the way through the 1800s. In Japanese, the word samurai means "warrior or knight."

Example Sentences

"One day he stumbles upon a samurai sensei who teaches him...about real discipline and how he can not only protect himself, but protect other people too."

From BBC • Mar. 13, 2026

At the end, we’re left to indulge in our contemporary myths about the samurai, knowing that these are built on far older ones.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 7, 2026

A refined 1840 Hokusai portrait of a young samurai, painted for a male patron, bears a poem praising the boy’s loveliness with a metaphor about dew-soaked branches.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 7, 2026

As opportunities to flex their military might diminished, samurai instead became landed gentry, taking on bureaucratic roles as tax agents, heads of fire brigades and land managers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 7, 2026

Then I walked over and took down one of the samurai swords mounted on the wall and presented it to Shoto.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline