Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

nisei

/ˈniseɪ/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.09 in modern English

Syllables: ni-sei
IPA: /ˈniseɪ/

5

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

2

Syllables

4

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

a person born outside of Japan of parents who were born in Japan

noun

One whose parents were Japanese immigrants, especially to North or South America.

Example Sentences

"Born and brought tip mostly in South America, the United States (particularly Hawaii) and Canada, the nisei and sansei have Japanese features but often speak the language imperfectly, if at all."
"The Nisei, on the other hand, are more inclined to view the hyphenated Japanese Canadian identity with positive implications."
"Decrypts fly out of a line printer on the other end and are taken off to another hut where American nisei, and some white men trained in Nipponese, translate them."

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 二世 (“second generation”).

Origin

Source language: Japanese

Word Breakdown

Root: 二世

Inflected Forms

niseis (plural) nissei (alternative)

Frequently Paired Words

issei sansei yonsei

Rhymes With

they way may day say one-way away play today pay stay re

Questions

How do you pronounce nisei?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈniseɪ/.
What does nisei mean?: a person born outside of Japan of parents who were born in Japan
Where does nisei come from?: It is traced to Japanese.

How to pronounce nisei

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “nisei”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈniseɪ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “nisei”.
Repeat and practice — Say “nisei” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.