Standard Lemma guide

samurai

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsæm(j)ʊɹaɪ/
  • General-American: sămʹə-rī'
  • General-American: /ˈsæməˌɹaɪ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • South-Asia: /ˈsɑː.mʊ.ˈɾɑːj/
  • rhymes with (General American) -æməɹaɪ
  • rhymes with (Received Pronunciation) -æmʊɹaɪ
  • rhymes with (RP) -æmjʊɹaɪ
  • CMU ARPABET: S AE1 M UH0 R AY2 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: S AE1 M ER0 AY2 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

In feudal Japan, a soldier who served a daimyo.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

feudal Japanese military aristocracy

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: nobility, aristocracy

3

noun

Meaning 3

a Japanese warrior who was a member of the feudal military aristocracy

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: warrior

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 侍 (samurai).

Across languages

Translations

72 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: samoerai — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Albanian: samuraj — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Arabic: سَامُورَاي (sāmūrāy) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Armenian: սամուրայ (samuray) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Azerbaijani: samuray — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Belarusian: самура́й (samuráj) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Bengali: সামুরাই (śamurai) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Bulgarian: самура́й (samuráj) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Burmese: ဆာမူရိုင်း (hcamuruing:) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Catalan: samurai — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Chinese Cantonese: 武士 (mou5 si6) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Chinese Cantonese: 日本武士 (jat6 bun2 mou5 si6) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Chinese Mandarin: 武士 (wǔshì) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Chinese Mandarin: 日本武士 (Rìběn wǔshì) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Chinese Mandarin: 侍 (shì) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Czech: samuraj — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Danish: samurai — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Dutch: samoerai — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Esperanto: samurajo — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Estonian: samurai — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Finnish: samurai — feudal Japanese warrior
  • French: samouraï — feudal Japanese warrior
  • West-Frisian: samûrai — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Georgian: სამურაი (samurai) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • German: Samurai — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Greek: σαμουράι (samourái) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Hebrew: סָמוּרַאי (samurái) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Hindi: समुराई (samurāī) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Hungarian: szamuráj — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Icelandic: samúræji — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Ido: samurai — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Indonesian: samurai — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Interlingua: samurai — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Italian: samurai — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Japanese: 侍 (samurai) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Japanese: 武士 — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Khmer: សាមូរ៉ៃ (saamuuray) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Korean: 사무라이 (samurai) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Korean: 무사 (musa) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Korean: 부시 (busi) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Lao: ຊາມູໄຣ (sā mū rai) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Latin: samuraeus — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Latvian: samurajs — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Lithuanian: samurajus — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Macedonian: самура́ј (samuráj) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Malay: samurai — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Marathi: सामुराई (sāmurāī) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Mongolian: самуурай (samuuraj) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Norwegian Bokmål: samurai — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Iranian Persian: سامورایی (sâmurâyi) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Polish: samuraj — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Portuguese: samurai — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Romanian: samurai — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Russian: самура́й (samuráj) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Serbo-Croatian: саму̀ра̄ј — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Serbo-Croatian: samùrāj — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Slovak: samuraj — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Slovene: samuraj — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Spanish: samurái — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Swedish: samuraj — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Tagalog: samuray — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Tamil: சாமுராய் (cāmurāy) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Telugu: సామురాయ్ (sāmurāy) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Thai: ซามูไร (saa-muu-rai) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Turkish: samuray — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Ukrainian: самура́й (samuráj) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Urdu: سَمُرائی (samurāī) — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Vietnamese: xamurai — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Vietnamese: samurai — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Vietnamese: võ sĩ — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Vietnamese: thị — feudal Japanese warrior
  • Vietnamese: sĩ quan Nhật — feudal Japanese warrior
Real reading context

samurai in complete knowledge articles