腹切り
Japanese
| Kanji in this term | |
|---|---|
| 腹 | 切 |
| はら Grade: 6 |
き Grade: 2 |
| kun'yomi | |
| Alternative spelling |
|---|
| 腹切 |
Etymology
From 腹 (hara, “belly, bowels”) + 切る (kiru, “to cut”).
Pronunciation
Noun
腹切り • (harakiri)
- hara-kiri, self-disembowelment
Usage notes
- Harakiri, or 切腹 (seppuku), was the Samurai practice of committing honorable suicide in historic Japan, seen as a final deed to cleanse oneself of sins and remove shame. As a verbal suffix, 切る (kiru), otherwise meaning “to cut”, has the connotation of being thorough or decisive while performing an action, indicating the resolve of a Samurai in doing so.
Synonyms
Descendants
- → English: hara-kiri
- → Danish: harakiri
- → German: Harakiri
- → Russian: хараки́ри (xarakíri) (see there for further descendants)