stealth; sneaking
General noun for moving or acting secretly, often in the context of ninja or covert operations.
Abbreviation of 忍び歩き; refers to traveling without revealing one's identity, often in historical or literary contexts.
See also: 忍び歩き
ninjutsu
Abbreviation of 忍びの術; refers specifically to the art of stealth and espionage practiced by ninja.
See also: 忍びの術
Abbreviation of 忍びの者; a person trained in ninjutsu, often used in historical or fictional contexts.
See also: 忍びの者
sneak theft; sneak thief
Refers to a thief who operates stealthily, or the act of stealing by stealth; somewhat dated usage.
A sneak thief broke in and stole the money.
Used only in the negative phrase 忍びない, meaning 'cannot bear to do something' or 'cannot bring oneself to do something'.
See also: 忍びない
The shogun went out into town incognito.
He infiltrated the enemy castle using stealth techniques.
He traveled incognito through the provinces.
Mastering ninjutsu requires years of training.
The ninja vanished into the darkness.
I cannot bear to see his suffering.
The thief who committed a sneak theft in the middle of the night was caught.
隠密 is a more formal word for secrecy or covert activity, while 忍び specifically evokes stealthy, often ninja-like movement.
空き巣 is the modern, concrete word for a sneak thief who enters empty houses, while 忍び in this sense is a dated term for stealthy theft.
凌ぎ (from 凌ぐ) means overcoming or tiding over a hard situation, whereas 忍び (from 忍ぶ) means enduring quietly or acting in secrecy, and the two sound very similar to learners.
creep up; steal up; sneak up
sneak in; creep in; steal in
travelling incognito (of a person of high rank) · special palanquin for incognito travel
ninja sword
whispering; hushed voice
Standard kanji spelling; high-frequency news word.
Search-only kanji form; not used as a standalone spelling in modern Japanese.
Derived from the verb 忍ぶ (しのぶ), meaning 'to conceal oneself' or 'to endure'. The noun form 忍び refers to stealth or secret actions, and by extension to ninja and related concepts. The tolerance sense is a separate development from the same verb.
art of stealth; ninjutsu
stealthy; secret; quiet and unobtrusive
steal into; sneak into; slip into