ronin

ronin [roh-nin] ExamplesWord Origin noun, plural ro·nin, ro·nins. Japanese History.

1. a samurai who no longer serves a daimyo, or feudal lord.

Origin of ronin From the Japanese word rōnin literally, ‘wave man’ (understood as ‘a man tossed around like a wave’) Examples from the Web for ronin Historical Examples of ronin

Thus the forty-seven ronin were pre-eminently “righteous” when they debauched themselves with every swinish vice.

The Gist of Japan

R. B. Peery

Born about 1680 he, by birth a Samurai, became a Ronin, and entered the studio of Kiyonobu.

Chats on Japanese Prints

Arthur Davison Ficke

And the reason she built the temple was that she might pray for the soul of the ronin whom the sight of her beauty had ruined.

The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn, Volume 2

Elizabeth Bisland

We should have the story of the Forty-seven Ronin, not a Japanese stage version, but a work from the source-material.

The Art Of The Moving Picture

Vachel Lindsay

British Dictionary definitions for ronin ronin noun Japanese history

1. a lordless samurai, esp one whose feudal lord had been deprived of his territory
2. such samurai collectively

Word Origin for ronin Japanese Word Origin and History for ronin n.

“masterless man, outcast, outlaw,” 1871, from Japanese, from ro “wave” + nin “man.”