kamikaze
/ˌkɑː.mɪˈkɑː.ziː/
kamikaze means suicidal, risking one's own life. It carries an Arena rating of 1722, earned across 57 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, kamikaze ranks #59 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #136 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #228 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #268 of 42,752 for Qualifying.
kamikaze is pronounced /ˌkɑː.mɪˈkɑː.ziː/.
Why “kamikaze” is a great word
A reckless, suicidal attack or a person undertaking one, specifically a Japanese pilot in WWII diving an aircraft into a target. From Japanese 神風 (kamikaze, "divine wind"), from 神 (kami, "god, divine") + 風 (kaze, "wind"), originally referring to the typhoons that destroyed Mongol invasion fleets in 1274 and 1281. Unlike a "suicide bomber," a general modern agent of terror, or merely "reckless" behavior, which courts danger, kamikaze implies a sacred, state-ordered annihilation, a ritual of metal and fire. It is the silent, sun-glinted dive of a Zero toward a warship's deck, the fuel gauge fixed on empty from takeoff, and the transformation of a man into a weapon aimed by a vanishing empire—the ultimate conversion of a life into a single, irreversible vector of impact.
Etymology
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
- Suicidal, risking one's own life.e.g.“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.” — 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
- Having or showing reckless disregard for safety or personal welfare.
noun
- An attack requiring the suicide of the one carrying it out, especially when done with an aircraft.
- One who carries out a suicide attack, especially with an aircraft.
- A vehicle used for a suicide attack, especially an aircraft.
- One who takes excessive risks, as for example in a sporting event.
- A cocktail made of equal parts vodka, triple sec and lime juice.e.g.“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.” — 2000 May 7, Julia Chaplin, “Buzz Off: Secret Bars That Spurn Hype”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 May 2025:
- A deliberate wipeout.
verb
- To destroy (a ship, etc.) in a suicide attack, especially by crashing an aircraft.
- To carry out a suicide attack, especially by crashing an aircraft.
- To fail disastrously.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.