Ainu

//ˈaɪnuː// adj, name, noun

adj, name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A member of an ethnic group on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

    "In the past, the Ainu (their selfname meaning 'person'), traditionally huntergatherers, occupied not only Hokkaido but also a considerable part of the island of Honshu until the middle the eighteenth century, […]"

  2. 2
    Synonym of Hokkaido (“a dog breed”).

    "[…] Hokkaidos or Ainus (smaller versions of the Akita); Akitas, Japanese Spitz, Japanese Chin, Nippon Terriers and Kai Ken."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or pertaining to the Ainu ethnic group or their language. not-comparable
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The endangered language spoken by the Ainu ethnic group, generally considered a language isolate with no known relation to other languages.

Synonyms

All synonyms
englishhokkaidolanguage

Example

More examples

"I studied the structure of Ainu families."

Etymology

From Japanese アイヌ (Ainu), from Ainu アイヌ (aynu, “person”).

Related phrases

ethnic group

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.