神風

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 Japanese 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Noun 1.2.1 Derived terms 1.2.2 Usage notes 1.3 See also

[edit] Japanese

Kanji in this term
神	風

[edit] Etymology

神 kami “god, divine” + 風 kaze “wind”

[edit] Noun

神風 (hiragana かみかぜ, romaji kamikaze)

1. Literally “divine wind”, a name given to a typhoon that saved Japan from a Mongol invasion in the 13th century.

[edit] Derived terms

• 神風特別攻撃隊 (shinpū tokubetsu kōgeki tai)
• 神風タクシー (kamikaze takushii)

[edit] Usage notes

• 神風 is also the ultimate source of the English word kamikaze, by a circuitous route. The characters appear in 神風特別攻撃隊, “神風 special attack unit”, the name of one kamikaze unit surely named after the typhoon but given the Sino-Japanese reading “shinpū”. However “shinpū” is not a word in its own right. The Japanese use the term “special attack unit” written in the abbreviated form 特攻隊 (tokkōtai) when referring to the WWII suicide pilots.

[edit] See also

• 切腹 (seppuku)
• 特攻隊 (tokkōtai)
• 腹切 (hara-kiri)
• Discussion of this term on Languagehat, a language blog