武士

Noun

 * 1) warrior; fighter
 * 2) soldier
 * 3)  member of a powerful military caste ; samurai
 * 4)  palace guard

Synonyms






Etymology 1
From, in turn from. Compare modern 🇨🇬 pronunciation bú-sǐr. First cited to a portion of the dated to 721.

Japanese philologist postulated in the 1920s that bushi derived instead from, the  version of fushi, the  of verb , as found in terms such as  and. Orikuchi contended that this word arose some time during the or s, and that the kanji spelling is. However, the term with the kanji spelling is attested already in the, many centuries earlier. In addition, rendaku only applies to the latter element in compounds, so nominalized verb fushi would not appear as bushi on its own.

Noun

 * 1)  a professional warrior, a soldier
 * 2)  a samurai
 * 1)  a samurai

Usage notes
In modern popular usage, the terms bushi and samurai are often used in both English and Japanese somewhat loosely to refer to any soldier or warrior during Japan's feudal age (prior to the ). In historical contexts, these terms may be used with more specific senses, wherein bushi refers to any professional warrior, and samurai refers more strictly to a hereditary social class. See also

Proper noun

 * 1) a place name

Etymology 2
→ →

From. First cited to the  of 712.

Regarded as a compound of.

The kanji are.

Noun

 * 1)  prior to the  system of the late 500s to late 700s, any of various groups directly serving the imperial family
 * 2)  a professional warrior, a soldier

Etymology 3
Various nanori readings.

Proper noun

 * 1) a place name