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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌhæɹəˈkɪɹi/, /ˌhɑɹəˈkɪɹi/; (widespread but nonstandard) /ˌhæɹiˈkæɹi/, /ˌhɛɹiˈkɛɹi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

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.
   • 2020 January 12, Drachinifel, 47:56 from the start, in The Drydock - Episode 076‎^[1], archived from the original on 26 September 2022:

     ...the report that was issued at the time officially blamed a disgruntled crewman who had been accused of theft and may have decided to do the ultimate hara-kiri, but quite how you prove that I don't know...

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,^[2] 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, The Economist‎^[3], volume 304, numbers 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), հարակիրի (hy) (harakiri)
• 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, הרקירי
• Indonesian: harakiri (id)
• Japanese: 腹切り (ja) (はらきり, harakiri), 切腹 (ja) (せっぷく, seppuku)
• Korean: 할복 (halbok)
• Malay: harakiri
• Malayalam: ഹരകിരി (ml) (harakiri)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: harakiri m

  Nynorsk: harakiri m

• Portuguese: haraquiri (pt) m, harakiri (pt) m, hara-kiri (pt) m
• Russian: хараки́ри (ru) n (xarakíri), сэппу́ку (ru) n (sɛppúku)
• Spanish: haraquiri (es) m, harakiri (es) m
• Swedish: harakiri (sv)
• Turkish: harakiri (tr)
• Urdu: ہاراکری (hārākirī)
• Uzbek: harakiri

suicide

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 自殺 / 自杀 (zh) (zìshā)

• 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, no diminutive)

1. archaic spelling of harakiri

French

Alternative forms

• harakiri (post-1990 spelling)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /a.ʁa.ki.ʁi/

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

• 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

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌa.ɾɐ.kiˈɾi/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌa.ɾɐ.kiˈɾi/

• Hyphenation: ha‧ra‧ki‧ri

Noun

hara-kiri m (plural hara-kiris)

1. alternative spelling of haraquiri

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• harakiri

Etymology

Etymology tree

Japanese 腹

Proto-Japonic *kiru

Old Japanese

Japanese 切る

Japanese 腹切りbor.

Tagalog hara-kiri

Borrowed from Japanese 腹切(はらき)り (harakiri).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˌhaɾa ˈkiɾi/ [ˌhaː.ɾɐ ˈk̠iː.ɾɪ]
• Rhymes: -iɾi
• Syllabification: ha‧ra-ki‧ri

Noun

hara-kiri (Baybayin spelling ᜑᜇᜃᜒᜇᜒ)

1. hara-kiri

   Synonym: seppuku

Further reading

• “hara-kiri”, in KWF Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Filipino, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2025
• “hara-kiri”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, 2018