kamikaze

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 神風(かみ​かぜ) (kami​kaze, “divine wind”), from 神(かみ​) (kami​, “divine”) + 風(かぜ) (kaze, “wind”); which originally referred to the typhoon that destroyed the Mongol navy attacking Japan in 1281.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kä′mĭ-kä′zē
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑː.mɪˈkɑː.ziː/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑ.mɪˈkɑ.zi/

  (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌkɒ.mɪˈkɒ.zi/

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˌkɐː.mɪˈkɐː.ziː/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˌkɐː.məˈkɐː.ziː/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˌka.mɪˈka.zi/
• (India) IPA^(key): /ˌkaː.mɪˈkaː.ziː/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːziː
• Hyphenation: ka‧mi‧ka‧ze

Noun

kamikaze (countable and uncountable, plural kamikazes)

1. An attack requiring the suicide of the one carrying it out, especially when done with an aircraft.
2. (countable) One who carries out a suicide attack, especially with an aircraft.
3. (countable) A vehicle used for a suicide attack, especially an aircraft.
   • 2020 February 12, Drachinifel, 8:16 from the start, in The Mark 14 Torpedo - Failure is Like Onions‎^[1], archived from the original on 24 November 2022:

     Coupled with this were issues involving actually getting enough torpedoes out there to the fleet in the first place! Whilst they were a munition, a torpedo is far more complex and took far longer to build than a shell for a naval gun, even a battleship shell. Torpedoes, remember, are effectively small self-guiding kamikaze submarines, and, so, unless you have a large factory and an extensive production line going, you're only gonna see handfuls produced each year.

   • 2022 October 17, Ivana Kottasová, “‘Kamikaze’ drones are the latest threat for Ukraine. Here’s what we know”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     The Ukrainians themselves have been using kamikaze drones to strike against Russian targets – and asked their allies to supply them with more of these deadly weapons.

4. (colloquial, countable) One who takes excessive risks, as for example in a sporting event.
5. (countable) A cocktail made of equal parts vodka, triple sec and lime juice.
   • 2000 May 7, Julia Chaplin, “Buzz Off: Secret Bars That Spurn Hype”, in The New York Times‎^[3], archived from the original on 26 May 2025:

     Only top-shelf liquor is served, though Sasha refuses to serve drinks he deems fratlike. These include woo woos, kamikazes and shots of any kind.

6. (countable, surfing) A deliberate wipeout.

Derived terms

• kamikaze drone
• kamikaze shoplifting

Translations

suicidal attack

• Arabic: هُجُومٌ إِنْتِحَارِيّ m (hujūmun ʔintiḥāriyy), كَامِيكَازِي m (kāmīkāzī)
• Azerbaijani: kamikadze
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 神風 / 神风 (zh) (shénfēng), 神風攻擊 / 神风攻击 (shénfēng gōngjí)

• Danish: kamikazeaktion c
• Finnish: itsemurhahyökkäys
• Galician: kamikaze m or f
• Georgian: კამიკაძე (ḳamiḳaʒe)
• German: Himmelfahrtskommando (de) n, Selbstmordanschlag (de) m, Selbstmordangriff m, Selbstmordattentat (de) m
• Greek: επίθεση αυτοκτονίας f (epíthesi aftoktonías)
• Indonesian: kamikaze (id)
• Japanese: 神風攻撃 (かみかぜこうげき, kamikaze kōgeki), 神風 (ja) (かみかぜ, kamikaze), 体当たり (ja) (たいあたり, taiatari)
• Korean: 가미카제 (gamikaje), 다이아타리 (daiatari)
• Kyrgyz: камикадзе (ky) (kamikadze), жанкечти (ky) (jankecti)
• Malay: kamikaze
• Persian: کامیکازه (kâmikâze)
• Portuguese: camicase (pt) m, kamikaze (pt) m
• Russian: камика́дзе (ru) m (kamikádzɛ)
• Spanish: kamikaze (es) m or f
• Swedish: kamikaze (sv) ?
• Turkish: kamikaze (tr)
• Vietnamese: thần phong
• Welsh: camicasi m, kamikaze

suicidal attacker

• Arabic: اِنْتِحَارِيّ m (intiḥāriyy), كَامِيكَازِي m (kāmīkāzī)
• Armenian: կամիկաձե (hy) (kamikaje)
• Belarusian: каміка́дзэ m (kamikádze), сме́ртнік m (smjértnik), сме́ртніца f (smjértnica), смяро́тнік m (smjarótnik), смяро́тніца f (smjarótnica)
• Bulgarian: камика́дзе m (kamikádze)
• Catalan: kamikaze (ca) c
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 神風特攻隊 / 神风特攻队 (shénfēng tègōngduì), 神風特別攻擊隊 / 神风特别攻击队 (shénfēng tèbié gōngjí duì)

• Danish: kamikaze c, kamikazepilot c, selvmordspilot c
• Dutch: kamikaze (nl) m, kamikazepiloot m
• Esperanto: kamikazo
• Finnish: itsemurhapommittaja (fi)
• French: kamikaze (fr) m
• Georgian: კამიკაძე (ḳamiḳaʒe)
• German: Selbstmordattentäter (de) m
• Greek: καμικάζι (el) m (kamikázi)
• Indonesian: kamikaze (id)
• Japanese: 特別攻撃隊 (ja) (とくべつこうげきたい, tokubetsu kōgekitai) (official), 特攻隊 (ja) (とっこうたい, tokkōtai) (popular), 神風特攻隊 (かみかぜとっこうたい, kamikaze tokkōtai)
• Korean: 가미카제 (gamikaje)
• Kyrgyz: камикадзе (ky) n (kamikadze), жанкечти (ky) (jankecti)
• Macedonian: камиказе m (kamikaze)
• Malay: kamikaze
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kamikazeflyger m, kamikazeflyver m

  Nynorsk: kamikazeflygar m

• Portuguese: camicase (pt) m
• Russian: камика́дзе (ru) m (kamikádzɛ), сме́ртник (ru) m (smértnik), сме́ртница (ru) f (smértnica)
• Spanish: kamikaze (es) m
• Swedish: kamikazepilot c
• Ukrainian: каміка́дзе m (kamikádze), сме́ртник m (smértnyk), сме́ртниця f (smértnycja)

See also

• hara-kiri
• hero
• juramentado
• martyr
• seppuku
• shaheed
• suicide
• suicide bomber

Verb

kamikaze (third-person singular simple present kamikazes, present participle kamikazeing, simple past and past participle kamikazed)

1. (transitive) To destroy (a ship, etc.) in a suicide attack, especially by crashing an aircraft.
2. (intransitive) To carry out a suicide attack, especially by crashing an aircraft.
3. (intransitive, slang) To fail disastrously.

Translations

to commit a suicidal attack

• French: kamikazer (fr)

Adjective

kamikaze (not comparable)

1. Suicidal, risking one's own life.
   • 2018 February, Robert Draper, “They are Watching You—and Everything Else on the Planet: Technology and Our Increasing Demand for Security have Put Us All under Surveillance. Is Privacy Becoming just a Memory?”, in National Geographic‎^[4], Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 June 2018:

     Sheathed in helmets, gloves, and jackets, they look more like manic video game figures than humans. They weave through traffic and around double-decker buses at kamikaze velocity.

2. Having or showing reckless disregard for safety or personal welfare.

Further reading

• “kamikaze”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Discussion of this term on Languagehat, a language blog

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [kə.miˈka.zə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ka.miˈka.ze]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ka‧mi‧ka‧ze

Noun

kamikaze m (plural kamikazes)

1. kamikaze

Czech

Alternative forms

• kamikadze

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkamɪkazɛ]
• Rhymes: -azɛ

Noun

kamikaze m anim

1. kamikaze (one who makes an attack requiring his suicide, especially when done with an aircraft)

Declension

Declension of kamikaze (mostly indeclinable masculine animate)

	singular	plural
nominative	kamikaze	kamikaze
genitive	kamikaze	kamikaze
dative	kamikaze	kamikaze
accusative	kamikaze	kamikaze
vocative	kamikaze	kamikaze
locative	kamikaze	kamikaze
instrumental	kamikazem	kamikaze

Further reading

• “kamikaze”, in Akademický slovník cizích slov at prirucka.ujc.cas.cz [Academic dictionary of foreign words] (in Czech), 1995

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 神風 (かみかぜ (kamikaze, “suicide flyer”, literally “divine wind”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.mi.kaz/, /ka.mi.ka.ze/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

kamikaze m or f by sense (plural kamikazes)

1. kamikaze (person carrying out a suicide attack); suicide bomber

Derived terms

• drone kamikaze

See also

• attentat-suicide

Further reading

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

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 神風(かみかぜ) (kamikaze, “divine wind”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kamikaze/

Noun

kamikaze (plural kamikaze-kamikaze)

1. the typhoons that saved Japan from invasion, divine wind
2. a kamikaze, a suicide pilot in World War Two

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 神風 (かみかぜ (kamikaze, “suicide flyer”, literally “divine wind”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.miˈka.ze/, /ka.miˈkad.d͡ze/
• Rhymes: -aze, -addze
• Hyphenation: ka‧mi‧kà‧ze

Noun

kamikaze m (invariable)

1. kamikaze

See also

• attentatore

Further reading

• kamikaze in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Japanese

Romanization

kamikaze

1. Rōmaji transcription of かみかぜ

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• camicase

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 神風 (かみかぜ (kamikaze, “suicide flyer”, literally “divine wind”)).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌkã.miˈka.zi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌkã.miˈka.zi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌka.miˈka.ze/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌka.miˈka.zɨ/

• Hyphenation: ka‧mi‧ka‧ze

Noun

kamikaze m (plural kamikazes)

1. kamikaze

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:kamikaze.

Adjective

kamikaze m or f (plural kamikazes)

1. kamikaze

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:kamikaze.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French kamikaze, from Japanese 神風(かみ​かぜ) (kami​kaze, “divine wind”).

Noun

kamikaze n (uncountable)

1. kamikaze

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	kamikaze	kamikazeul
genitive-dative	kamikaze	kamikazeului
vocative	kamikazeule

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 神風 (かみかぜ (kamikaze, “suicide flyer”, literally “divine wind”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kamiˈkaθe/ [ka.miˈka.θe] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /kamiˈkase/ [ka.miˈka.se] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -aθe (Spain)
• Rhymes: -ase (Latin America, Philippines)
• Syllabification: ka‧mi‧ka‧ze

Noun

kamikaze m (plural kamikazes)

1. kamikaze
2. ghost driver, wrong-way driver

Further reading

• “kamikaze”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

Swedish

Noun

kamikaze

1. kamikaze

Derived terms

• kamikazeattack
• kamikazedrönare
• kamikazepilot