腹切はらきり

Japanese

Kanji in this term
腹はら	切きり
はら Grade: 6	き Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Alternative forms

• 腹切はらきり

Etymology

From 腹はら(はら) (hara, “belly, bowels”) + 切きり(き)る (kiru, “to cut”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) はらきり [hàrákírí] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ha̠ɾa̠kʲiɾʲi]

Noun

腹はら(はら)切きり(き)り • (harakiri) 

1. hara-kiri, self-disembowelment

Usage notes

• Harakiri, or 切腹せっぷく(せっぷく) (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, 切きり(き)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

• 切腹せっぷく(せっぷく) (seppuku)
• 割腹かっぷく(かっぷく) (kappuku)
• 自刃じじん(じじん) (jijin)

Descendants

• → English: hara-kiri
• → Danish: harakiri
• → German: Harakiri
• → Russian: хараки́ри (xarakíri) (see there for further descendants)