naja

See also: Naja and nåja

English

Naja naja, the Indian Cobra

Etymology 1

From Sanskrit नाग (nāga), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nogʷós (“naked”).

Noun

naja (plural najas)

1. A member of the Naja genus of venomous snakes; cobras

See also

• Naja on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Naja on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Naja on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Navajo [Term?].

Noun

naja (plural najas)

1. A necklace or pendant made in the shape of the traditional Navajo symbol of a crescent.

   Synonym: squash blossom necklace

   • 1973, Margery Bedinger, Indian Silver: Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers, Albuquerque, N.M.: University of New Mexico Press, →ISBN, page 229:

     Carter has several illustrations of English horse amulets that clearly resemble early Navajo najas.

   • 1997, Lauran Paine, The White Bird, Thorndike, M.E.: Thorndike Press; Bath, Somerset: Chivers Press, published 1998, →ISBN, page 134:

     Belle came out of her dark place to show Sam her necklace. It was beautiful. In the center was a naja.

   • 2015 May 14, Victoria Gomelsky, “Beauty and Balance in Turquoise”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 February 2021:

     In Los Angeles, the designers Jacquie Aiche and Irene Neuwirth both said they had been seduced by Native American style. In April, Ms. Aiche debuted a limited collection of leather bolo ties anchored by a crescent-shaped pendant not unlike the traditional Navajo naja symbol, while Ms. Neuwirth showed a long rainbow-colored strand of gemstones whose silhouette recalls a luxe version of the naja, or squash blossom necklace.

Anagrams

• Jana

Dutch

Interjection

naja

1. contraction of nou ja

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /na.ʒa/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

naja m (plural najas)

1. cobra (venomous snake)

Further reading

• “naja”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

German

Alternative forms

• na ja

Etymology

na +‎ ja, literally “well, yes””.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /na(ː)ˈja(ː)/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Interjection

naja

1. well
2. uh-huh, if you say so (expresses disagreement with what was said but an unwillingness to argue about it)

   —Ich finde, Justin Bieber ist der größte kanadische Musiker seit Neil Young!
   —Naja.

   —I find, Justin Bieber to be the greatest Canadian musician since Neil Young!
   —If you say so…

Further reading

• “naja”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[2] (in German)
• “naja” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon

Greenlandic

Pronunciation

• (Nuuk) IPA^(key): /naja/, [nə.ja]

Noun

naja (plural najat)

1. alternative form of najak

Italian

Noun

naja f (uncountable)

1. alternative form of naia (“compulsory military conscription”)

Pipil

Etymology

From Proto-Nahuan *nəh. Compare Classical Nahuatl nehhuātl (“I”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnaha/

Pronoun

naja

1. (personal) I, first person singular pronoun.

   Naja nimayana.

   I’m hungry.

See also

Pipil personal pronouns

			singular	plural
1st person			naja	tejemet
2nd person			taja	anmejemet
3rd person			yaja	yejemet

• ni- (subject marker)
• nech- (object marker)

Portuguese

Etymology

From Sanskrit नाग (nāgá, “serpent, snake”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈna.ʒɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈna.ʒɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈna.ʒa/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈna.ʒɐ/

• Rhymes: -aʒɐ
• Hyphenation: na‧ja

Noun

naja f (plural najas)

1. naja (any snake of the genus Naja)

   Synonyms: cobra-de-capelo, cobra-capelo

Usage notes

The gender of this Portuguese zoonym is always feminine: when the gender of the being itself must be specified, naja-macho for male and naja-fêmea for female. Here, macho is treated as an undeclinable noun and doesn't usually agree in gender with the referent, but it would change to macha if so.

Related terms

• naja-egípcia
• naja-indiana

Further reading

• “naja”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “naja”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Etymology

From Sanskrit नाग (nāgá, “serpent, snake”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnaxa/ [ˈna.xa]
• Rhymes: -axa
• Syllabification: na‧ja

Noun

naja f (plural najas)

1. a member of the Naja genus of venomous snakes; cobra

   Synonym: cobra

Further reading

• “naja”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Venetan

Etymology

Compare Italian naja

Noun

naja f (invariable)

1. conscription, military service