腹切り
Japanese
| Kanji in this term | |
| 腹 | 切 |
Alternative forms
Etymology
From 腹 (hara, “belly, bowels”) + 切る (kiru, “cut”).
Noun
腹切り (hiragana はらきり, romaji harakiri)
- hara-kiri, self-disembowelment
Usage notes
- harakiri, or 切腹 (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, 切る (kiru), otherwise meaning “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, seppuku)
- 割腹
- 自刃