Sensei

//ˈsɛnseɪ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A martial arts instructor; especially one for a Japanese martial art.
  2. 2
    A Japanese (language) teacher (sometimes used as a suffix attached to the name of a teacher, principally in translations from Japanese).
  3. 3
    A teacher, guide or mentor, in the context of Japan.

Synonyms

All synonyms
shifusifusifu shifu

Example

More examples

"Tom calls his karate teacher Sensei."

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 先生(せんせい) (sensei, “teacher; elder”), from Middle Chinese 先生 (MC sen sraeng, “master, elder”), from 先 (MC sen, “earlier, first”) + 生 (MC sraeng, “born”). Compare modern Mandarin 先生 (xiānshēng, “Mr.”). Doublet of sinseh, from Hokkien 先生 (sin-seⁿ).

Related phrases

martial arts instructor sensei of martial arts usually live and or work at dojo where they instruct their apprentices live in apprentice is also called uchi deshi

More for "sensei"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

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