Ainu

/ˈaɪnuː/

Ainu noun: a member of the ethnic group indigenous to the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

Ainu (plural Ainu or Ainus)

A member of the ethnic group indigenous to 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, […]2009, Nicolas Tranter, The Languages of Japan and Korea
Synonym of Hokkaido (“a dog breed”).
- […] Hokkaidos or Ainus (smaller versions of the Akita); Akitas, Japanese Spitz, Japanese Chin, Nippon Terriers and Kai Ken.1983, Pure-bred Dogs, American Kennel Gazette, page 11
Synonyms:

Hokkaido

Adjective

Ainu (not comparable)

Of or pertaining to the Ainu ethnic group or their language.

Proper noun

Ainu

The endangered language spoken by the Ainu ethnic group, generally considered a language isolate with no known relation to other languages.

Ainu meaning in Marathi, Arabic, Malay and Vietnamese

Ainu in Marathi

Ainu person: आइनू āinū
pertaining to ethnic group or language: आइनू āinū
language: आइनू āinū

Ainu in Arabic

language: لُغَة آيْنْوِيَّة luḡa ʔaynwiyya

Ainu in Malay

Ainu person: orang Ainu, Ainu
pertaining to ethnic group or language: Ainu
language: bahasa Ainu, Ainu

Ainu in Vietnamese

pertaining to ethnic group or language: tiếng Ai Nô
language: tiếng Ainu

Synonyms of Ainu

Hokkaido

Forms of Ainu

plural	Ainu
plural	Ainus
alternative form	Aino

Origin of Ainu

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

Words formed from Ainu

Questions about Ainu

What does Ainu mean?: Ainu means a member of the ethnic group indigenous to the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
What is Ainu in Marathi?: Ainu in Marathi is आइनू (āinū). See Ainu meaning in Marathi.
What part of speech is Ainu?: Ainu can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Ainu?: Ainu is pronounced /ˈaɪnuː/.
What is the plural of Ainu?: The plural of Ainu is Ainu.

Words near Ainu in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: Ainu (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Knabrupt-Ainu.wav.

Cite this entry: “Ainu.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ainu. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.