kamikaze

Borrowed from Japanese 神風(かみ​かぜ) (kami​kaze, “divine wind”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkæ.mɪˈkɑː.zi/
• (emulating Japanese) IPA^(key): /kɑː.mɪˈkɑː.zeɪ/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

kamikaze (plural kamikazes)

1. An attack requiring the suicide of the one carrying it out, especially when done with an aircraft.
2. One who carries out a suicide attack, especially with an aircraft.
3. A vehicle used for a suicide attack, especially an aircraft.
   • 2020 February 12, Drachinifel, 8:16 from the start, in The Mark 14 Torpedo - Failure is Like Onions‎^[1], archived from the original on 24 November 2022:

     Coupled with this were issues involving actually getting enough torpedoes out there to the fleet in the first place! Whilst they were a munition, a torpedo is far more complex and took far longer to build than a shell for a naval gun, even a battleship shell. Torpedoes, remember, are effectively small self-guiding kamikaze submarines, and, so, unless you have a large factory and an extensive production line going, you're only gonna see handfuls produced each year.

   • 2022 October 17, Ivana Kottasová, “‘Kamikaze’ drones are the latest threat for Ukraine. Here’s what we know”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     The Ukrainians themselves have been using kamikaze drones to strike against Russian targets – and asked their allies to supply them with more of these deadly weapons.

4. (colloquial) One who takes excessive risks, as for example in a sporting event.
5. A cocktail made of equal parts vodka, triple sec and lime juice.
   • 2000 May 7, Julia Chaplin, “Buzz Off: Secret Bars That Spurn Hype”, in The New York Times‎^[3], archived from the original on 26 May 2025:

     Only top-shelf liquor is served, though Sasha refuses to serve drinks he deems fratlike. These include woo woos, kamikazes and shots of any kind.

6. (surfing) A deliberate wipeout.

• kamikaze drone
• kamikaze shoplifting

• hara-kiri
• hero
• juramentado
• martyr
• seppuku
• shaheed
• suicide
• suicide bomber

kamikaze (third-person singular simple present kamikazes, present participle kamikazeing, simple past and past participle kamikazed)

1. (transitive) To destroy (a ship, etc.) in a suicide attack, especially by crashing an aircraft.
2. (intransitive) To carry out a suicide attack, especially by crashing an aircraft.
3. (intransitive, slang) To fail disastrously.

kamikaze (not comparable)

1. Suicidal, risking one's own life.
   • 2018 February, Robert Draper, “They are Watching You—and Everything Else on the Planet: Technology and Our Increasing Demand for Security have Put Us All under Surveillance. Is Privacy Becoming just a Memory?”, in National Geographic‎^[4], Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 June 2018:

     Sheathed in helmets, gloves, and jackets, they look more like manic video game figures than humans. They weave through traffic and around double-decker buses at kamikaze velocity.

2. Having or showing reckless disregard for safety or personal welfare.

• Discussion of this term on Languagehat, a language blog

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [kə.miˈka.zə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ka.miˈka.ze]

kamikaze m (plural kamikazes)

1. kamikaze

• kamikadze

• IPA^(key): [ˈkamɪkazɛ]
• Rhymes: -azɛ

kamikaze m anim

1. kamikaze (one who makes an attack requiring his suicide, especially when done with an aircraft)

• “kamikaze”, in Akademický slovník cizích slov at prirucka.ujc.cas.cz [Academic dictionary of foreign words] (in Czech), 1995

Borrowed from Japanese 神風 (かみかぜ (kamikaze, “suicide flyer”, literally “divine wind”)).

• IPA^(key): /ka.mi.kaz/, /ka.mi.ka.ze/

• Audio:

  (file)

kamikaze m or f by sense (plural kamikazes)

1. kamikaze (person carrying out a suicide attack); suicide bomber

• drone kamikaze

• attentat-suicide

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

Borrowed from Japanese 神風(かみかぜ) (kamikaze, “divine wind”).

• IPA^(key): /kamikaze/

kamikaze (plural kamikaze-kamikaze)

1. the typhoons that saved Japan from invasion, divine wind
2. a kamikaze, a suicide pilot in World War Two

Borrowed from Japanese 神風 (かみかぜ (kamikaze, “suicide flyer”, literally “divine wind”)).

• IPA^(key): /ka.miˈka.ze/, /ka.miˈkad.d͡ze/^[1]
• Rhymes: -aze, -addze
• Hyphenation: ka‧mi‧kà‧ze

kamikaze m (invariable)

1. kamikaze

• attentatore

• kamikaze in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

kamikaze

1. Rōmaji transcription of かみかぜ

• camicase

Borrowed from Japanese 神風 (かみかぜ (kamikaze, “suicide flyer”, literally “divine wind”)).

• Hyphenation: ka‧mi‧ka‧ze

kamikaze m (plural kamikazes)

1. kamikaze

For quotations using this term, see Citations:kamikaze.

kamikaze m or f (plural kamikazes)

1. kamikaze

For quotations using this term, see Citations:kamikaze.

Borrowed from French kamikaze, from Japanese 神風(かみ​かぜ) (kami​kaze, “divine wind”).

kamikaze n (uncountable)

1. kamikaze

Borrowed from Japanese 神風 (かみかぜ (kamikaze, “suicide flyer”, literally “divine wind”)).

• IPA^(key): /kamiˈkaθe/ [ka.miˈka.θe] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /kamiˈkase/ [ka.miˈka.se] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -aθe (Spain)
• Rhymes: -ase (Latin America, Philippines)
• Syllabification: ka‧mi‧ka‧ze

kamikaze m (plural kamikazes)

1. kamikaze
2. ghost driver, wrong-way driver

• “kamikaze”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

kamikaze

1. kamikaze

• kamikazeattack
• kamikazedrönare
• kamikazepilot