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kamikaze.

An attack requiring the suicide of the one carrying it out, especially when done with an aircraft.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˌkɑː.mɪˈkɑː.ziː/Received-Pronunciation/ˌkɑ.mɪˈkɑ.zi/Canada, General-American/ˌkɐː.mɪˈkɐː.ziː/Australia/ˌkɐː.məˈkɐː.ziː/New-Zealand
  1. An attack requiring the suicide of the one carrying it out, especially when done with an aircraft.

    countable · uncountable
  2. One who carries out a suicide attack, especially with an aircraft.

    countable
  3. A vehicle used for a suicide attack, especially an aircraft.

    countable
  4. One who takes excessive risks, as for example in a sporting event.

    colloquial · countable
  5. A cocktail made of equal parts vodka, triple sec and lime juice.

    countable
  6. A deliberate wipeout.

    countable
Where this word comes from

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

verb/ˌkɑː.mɪˈkɑː.ziː/Received-Pronunciation/ˌkɑ.mɪˈkɑ.zi/Canada, General-American/ˌkɐː.mɪˈkɐː.ziː/Australia/ˌkɐː.məˈkɐː.ziː/New-Zealand
  1. To destroy (a ship, etc.) in a suicide attack, especially by crashing an aircraft.

    transitive
  2. To carry out a suicide attack, especially by crashing an aircraft.

    intransitive
  3. To fail disastrously.

    intransitive · slang
Where this word comes from

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

adj/ˌkɑː.mɪˈkɑː.ziː/Received-Pronunciation/ˌkɑ.mɪˈkɑ.zi/Canada, General-American/ˌkɐː.mɪˈkɐː.ziː/Australia/ˌkɐː.məˈkɐː.ziː/New-Zealand
  1. Suicidal, risking one's own life.

    not-comparable
  2. Having or showing reckless disregard for safety or personal welfare.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

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

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.