Why this word is great
KUNOICHI — [Noun] A female ninja or practitioner of ninjutsu. Borrowed from Japanese くノ一 (kunoichi), derived from the stroke order of the kanji 女 (onna, "woman"), where the three strokes of the character are represented by the hiragana く (ku), the katakana ノ (no), and the kanji 一 (ichi). Unlike "shinobi" (a shadow-dweller, ungendered in myth but male in practice) or "onna-bugeisha" (a sword-wielding noblewoman bound by bushido), the kunoichi is a creature of subterfuge, her weaponry woven into the mundane: poison slipped into a teacup, a lover’s whisper laced with betrayal, the rustle of silk masking the slide of a blade. She is the whisper in the castle corridor, the village midwife who knows every secret birth and burial—a reminder that the most dangerous secrets are often kept in plain sight, and that the softest footfall can topple empires.