nisei

Japanese 二世 (にせい, nisei), from 二 (ni-) ‘second’ + 世 (sei) ‘generation’.

• IPA^(key): /ˈniseɪ/

nisei (plural niseis or nisei)

1. an American or Canadian whose parents were Japanese immigrants
   • 1978, Gordon Hirabayashi, “Japanese Heritage, Canadian Experience,” in Harold Coward and Leslie S. Kawamura eds., Religion and Ethnicity, Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, p 66:

     The Nisei, on the other hand, are more inclined to view the hyphenated Japanese Canadian identity with positive implications.

   • 1999, Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon

     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.

• issei
• sansei
• yonsei

nisei

1. Rōmaji transcription of にせい