hara-kiri

hara-kiri

See also: harakiri and Harakiri

English

Alternative forms

• harakiri
• hari-kari (nonstandard)
• harikari (nonstandard)
• harikiri

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 腹切り (harakiri), ultimately from 腹 (hara, “belly”) +‎ 切る (kiru, “to cut”).

Noun

hara-kiri (uncountable)

1. Ceremonial suicide by disembowelment, as by slicing open the abdomen with a dagger or knife: formerly practised in Japan by the Samurai when disgraced or sentenced to death.
   • 1899, William George Aston, A History of Japanese Literature, page 231

     On the downfall of his power in 1867 he was urged by one of his Council to save the honour of his family by a voluntary suicide. He flatly refused to do so and left the room, whereupon his faithful adviser retired to another part of the castle and solemnly performed the hara-kiri.

2. Suicide or any suicidal action.
3. (by extension, figuratively) An act against one's own interests.
   • 1982–1983, Paul Johnson, Modern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Eighties, revised and printed as […] to the Nineties, HarperCollins (2001), →ISBN, page 393:

     Regarded logically, therefore, Japan’s decision to go to war made no sense. It was hara-kiri.

   • 1987, in The Economist, Volume 304, Issues 7505–7513, page 1:

     They are haunted by the spectre of the 1984 election, when Mr Walter Mondale committed hara-kiri by acknowledging the need to raise taxes if America were to get its economy straight.

   • 2008 April 5, Anurag Prasad, “Virgin Territory”, in Outlook Business, Volume 3, Number 7, page 50:

     But with GSM players lobbying hard for more spectrum, taking MVNOs on board now would be hara-kiri.

Synonyms

• (ceremonial suicide by ripping open the abdomen): seppuku

Translations

ceremonial suicide by ripping open the abdomen

Arabic: هَارَا كِيرِي‎ m (hārā kīrī) Armenian: խարակիրի (hy) (xarakiri) Catalan: harakiri m Chinese: Mandarin: 切腹 (zh) (qiēfù) Esperanto: harakiro Finnish: harakiri (fi) French: hara-kiri (fr) m Galician: haraquiri m German: Harakiri (de) n Hebrew: חרקירי‎ (he) m Indonesian: harakiri (id) Japanese: 腹切り (はらきり, harakiri), 切腹 (ja) (せっぷく, seppuku) Korean: 할복 (halbok) Malay: harakiri Norwegian: Bokmål: harakiri m Nynorsk: harakiri m Portuguese: haraquiri (pt) m, harakiri (pt) m, hara-kiri m Russian: хараки́ри (ru) n (xarakíri), сэппу́ку (ru) n (sɛppúku) Spanish: haraquiri m, harakiri m Swedish: harakiri (sv) Urdu: ہاراکری‎ (hārākirī)

suicide

Finnish: harakiri (fi) Hawaiian: pepehi make ana ʻia iā iho Japanese: 自殺 (ja)

self-destructive act

Finnish: harakiri (fi) German: Harakiri (de) n

See also

• bushido
• kamikaze
• seppuku
• suicide

Anagrams

• hari-kari, harikari

---

Dutch

Noun

hara-kiri m (plural hara-kiri's)

1. Archaic spelling of harakiri.

---

French

Alternative forms

• harakiri (post-1990 spelling)

Pronunciation

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /a.ʁa.ki.ʁi/
• Rhymes: -i
• Homophones: harakiri, harakiris, hara-kiris

Noun

hara-kiri m (plural hara-kiris)

1. hara-kiri (suicide by ripping open the stomach)

See also

• éventrement
• éventrer

Further reading

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

---

Portuguese

Noun

hara-kiri m (plural hara-kiris)

1. Alternative spelling of haraquiri