Joshi

name, noun

name, noun ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Japanese women's professional wrestling uncountable

    "[Naoko] Sato and [Makiko] Ueda were young and attractive, unlike some of the burlier, older women who had dominated the sport in Japan up to that point. They introduced youth and sex appeal to joshi wrestling and quickly became a pop culture sensation."

  2. 2
    Japanese women's professional wrestling; A female Japanese professional wrestler broadly, uncountable

    "Whether they are called joshis, luchadoras, or lady grapplers, one can find female wrestlers in every part of the world."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A Kalash festival celebrated at the end of May, involving libations of milk, dancing, and rhythmic drumming.
  2. 2
    A surname from Nepali.
  3. 3
    A surname from Gujarati.
  4. 4
    A surname from Marathi.
  5. 5
    A surname from Hindi.

Example

More examples

"[Naoko] Sato and [Makiko] Ueda were young and attractive, unlike some of the burlier, older women who had dominated the sport in Japan up to that point. They introduced youth and sex appeal to joshi wrestling and quickly became a pop culture sensation."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Ellipsis of 女子プロレス (joshi puroresu), itself a compound of 女子 (joshi, “woman”) + プロレス (puroresu, “professional wrestling”).

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Kalasha zhoshi.

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Nepali जोशी (jośī), Gujarati જોશી (jośī), Marathi जोशी (jośī), and Hindi जोशी (jośī), meaning astrologer.

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