'Samurai' is Japanese for 'one who serves' — from 'saburau' (to attend). Servant turned warrior.
A member of the warrior class in feudal Japan, bound by a code of honour and loyalty to their lord.
From Japanese '侍' (samurai), derived from the classical Japanese verb 'saburau' (later 'samorau'), meaning 'to serve, to attend upon, to be in waiting.' The word originally designated a servant or attendant rather than a warrior. During the Heian period (794–1185), the term shifted to refer specifically to armed retainers who served the provincial nobility, and by the Kamakura period (1185–1333), it had come to mean the military aristocracy that effectively ruled Japan. Key roots
The word 'samurai' literally means 'one who serves' — a striking contrast to the image of fearsome warriors. The humble origin reflects the historical reality: the earliest samurai were not noble knights but armed servants of the court aristocracy. Only later did they seize political power and become Japan's ruling class for nearly