noun
gaijin
Gaijin (noun) means a person who is not Japanese.
noun
1
A person who is not Japanese.
"Oh's pitchers later acknowledged that they were instructed—under penalty of a fine—to throw no strikes to the gaijin."
— Alan M. Klein, Growing the Game: The Globalization of Major League Baseball (2006)
"The sarariman had been Japanese, but the Ninsei crowd was a gaijin crowd."
— William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1) (1984)
"And I did not intend to live my life as a gaijin—not merely, like the expatriate, someone by definition permanently out of place but someone unwanted as well."
— David Pollack, Reading Against Culture (1992)
2
(informal) A white person, in Japanese usage.
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Etymology
Borrowed from Japanese 外人 (gaijin, ‘foreigner’), which came from Middle Chinese 外人 (ngwajᴴ nyin). Compare Mandarin 外人 (wàirén), from Old Chinese 外人 (*ŋʷaːds njin, ‘foreigner, outsider’, from ‘non-relative’), made up of 外 (wài, ‘outside, outer’) and 人 (rén, ‘person’).
Frequently asked questions
What is the meaning of gaijin?
"gaijin" (noun) means a person who is not Japanese.
What are the different meanings of gaijin?
"gaijin" has 2 main meanings: 1. A person who is not Japanese; 2. (informal) A white person, in Japanese usage.
