seppuku

Borrowed from Japanese 切腹 (seppuku), from Middle Chinese 切 (t͡set, “to cut”) +‎ 腹 (pjuwk, “belly”). Compare Cantonese 切腹 (cit³ fuk¹) and Mandarin 切腹 (qiēfù).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sɛˈpuː.kuː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: sĕpʹo͞o-ko͞o('), sĕpʹə-, sĕ-po͞oʹ-, sə-po͞oʹ-, IPA^(key): /ˈsɛ.pu(ˌ)ku/, /ˈsɛ.pə-/, /sɛˈpu-/, /səˈpu-/
• Hyphenation: sep‧pu‧ku

seppuku (countable and uncountable, plural seppukus or seppuku)

1. A form of ritual suicide by disembowelment using a blade, practiced by Japanese samurai, especially to rid oneself of shame, as a means of protest, or, formerly, as a method of capital punishment.
   • 2023 February 12, Motoko Rich, Hikari Hida, quoting Yusuke Narita, “A Yale Professor Suggested Mass Suicide for Old People in Japan. What Did He Mean?”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     “I feel like the only solution is pretty clear,” he said during one online news program in late 2021. “In the end, isn’t it mass suicide and mass ‘seppuku’ of the elderly?”

• As with suicide, the usual verb used with seppuku is commit.

• hara-kiri

• bushido
• hara-kiri
• kamikaze
• suicide

• pukes up

Borrowed from Japanese 切腹.

seppuku

1. seppuku
   • 1997, Erik Østerud, Den Optiske Fordring: Pejlinger I Den Visuelle Kultur Omkring Henrik Ibsens Forfatterskab:

     På grund af dette lovbrud beordrer shogunen Hangan til at begå seppuku.

     Because of this crime, the shogun commands Hangan to commit seppuku.

   • 1967, K. Holst Andersen, Mit hus i Japan:

     ... det blev ham tilladt at begå seppuku, eller harakiri, selvmord ved at stikke en kniv i underlivet.

     ... he was allowed to commit seppuku, or harakiri, suicide by stabbing a knife into the part of the body consisting of the hip and the scrotum.

No declined forms attested.

• harakiri

• seppoekoe (rare)

Borrowing from Japanese 切腹.

• IPA^(key): /sɛˈpu.ku/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sep‧pu‧ku
• Rhymes: -uku

seppuku m (uncountable)

1. seppuku

   Synonym: harakiri

seppuku

1. Rōmaji transcription of せっぷく

Unadapted borrowing from Japanese 切腹.

• IPA^(key): /sɛˈpu.ku/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uku
• Syllabification: se‧ppu‧ku

seppuku n (indeclinable)

1. hara-kiri, seppuku (ceremonial suicide by ripping open the abdomen)

   Synonym: harakiri

• seppuku in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• seppuku in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Unadapted borrowing from Japanese 切腹.

seppuku m (plural seppukus)

1. seppuku (ritual Japanese suicide by disembowelment)

Japanese 切腹.

seppuku n (uncountable)

1. seppuku (ritual Japanese suicide by disembowelment)

seppuku c

1. seppuku

   begå seppuku

   commit seppuku

• harakiri