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judoka

judoka

1 6.4
A person who practices or competes in judo
  • noun
  • /dʒuˈdoʊkə/
: judoca
  • Images of the blind and sighted judoka by Bob Willingham.
  • judoka competes

She is one of if not the greatest American judoka ever.

Examples

  • The judokas bury their chins in their chests.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • The judoka on the left is blind; the one on the right is sighted.

    Blog text (30)
  • The judokas form a group apart, black, ill at ease; nobody is buried like this here, not with doves, not in these colors, those clothes, not without ...

    Fiction book (1994)
  • One such participant in these matches was a Japanese judoka who wrestled under the moniker Count Combat, or "Conde Koma" in Portuguese.

    Blog text (6)
  • The judoka won the championship after a tough match against a skilled opponent.

  • During the tournament, every judoka demonstrated impressive techniques in their fights.

  • The young judoka trained diligently every day to improve their skills for the upcoming competition.

Surface Forms

judoka singular
judokas plural

Morphology

judoka = judo (semi-transparent) = judo + ka

Formed from the known noun 'judo' plus the agentive suffix '-ka' borrowed from Japanese; the meaning 'person who practices judo' is predictable if the learner knows 'judo', but the suffix is non‑English and may be unfamiliar.

Etymology

Judoka comes from Japanese: judo (from ju 'gentle' + do 'way') plus the suffix -ka meaning 'person who practices'. So a judoka is literally a 'person who practices the gentle way', which is why the word means someone who trains in or competes at judo.