Meaning

Primary

Harakiri

Alternative

Ritual Suicide

Word Type

noun

Explanation

You cut your abdomen. This is what you do when you're doing harakiri, aka ritual suicide.

Reading

はらきり
  • Kyoko
    (Tokyo accent, female)
  • Kenichi
    (Tokyo accent, male)

Explanation

The readings come from and 切る. If you're lucky, you already know the word harakiri as it's made its way into English as well.

Context

Context Sentences

大名はその下級武士に腹切りを命じた。

The feudal lord ordered the low-grade samurai to perform ritual suicide.

外国人に「腹切り」という言葉の方が広まったのは、響きにインパクトあったからかもね。

The word "harakiri" might have spread more among foreigners because the sound of it has a strong impact.

腹切りって言葉、なんだか切腹よりも生々しい感じがするよね。

The word harakiri feels somehow more visceral than seppuku, doesn’t it?

侍の腹切りをテーマにした映画は来週公開されます。

The movie based on samurai harakiri will be released next week.

Kanji Composition