Gaijin

//ˈɡaɪˌd͡ʒɪn// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A non-Japanese person.

    "The peculiar position of his group, according to Mr. Okimoto, is shown by the Japanese habit of referring to such persons as either nisei or nikkeijin —of Japanese descent—instead of calling them gaijin, that is, foreigners, or identifying them by nationality."

  2. 2
    A white person. Hawaii

Synonyms

All synonyms
foreigneroutsider

Example

More examples

"My Chinese neighbour Sherman C. whispered that the Japanese are like the Eloi in the franchise The Time Machine of H.G. Wells. I guess that the Morlocks may be those whom the Japanese call "gaijin.""

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 外人 (gaijin, “foreigner”), from Middle Chinese 外人 (ngwajᴴ nyin). Compare Mandarin 外人 (wàirén), from Old Chinese 外人 (*ŋʷaːds njin, “foreigner, outsider” < “non-relative”), from 外 (wài, “outside, outer”) + 人 (rén, “person”).

Related phrases

gaijin card

More for "gaijin"

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