hara-kiri noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced American Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com

Definition of hara-kiri noun from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

hara-kiri

noun

NAmE//ˌhærə ˈkɪri//

, NAmE//ˌhɑrəˈkɪri//

[uncountable] (from Japanese)

an act of killing yourself by cutting open your stomach with a sword, performed especially by the samurai in Japan in the past, to avoid losing honor

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