hibakusha

American  

[hee-buh-koo-shuh, hee-bah-koo-shah] / ˌhi bəˈku ʃə, hiˈbɑ kʊˌʃɑ /

noun

hibakushas, plural hibakusha plural

1. a survivor of either of the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945.

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hibakusha British  

/ hɪˈbɑːkʊʃə /

noun

1. a survivor of either of the atomic-bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• hibakushas
  plural
• hibakusha
  plural

Etymology

Origin of hibakusha

< Japanese, equivalent to hibaku bombed ( hi- suffer + baku- burst open, explode < Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese bèi bào ) + -sha person < Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese chě

Example Sentences

"No more war, no more hibakusha," he added.

From BBC • May 7, 2026

But an equally disturbing and important story should not be forgotten—the fate of the more than 500,000 hibakusha, those Japanese civilians who survived the nuclear bombing of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

From Scientific American • Aug. 6, 2023

The hibakusha, around 119,000 of whom were still alive as of March 2022, according to a Japanese goverment estimate, had made several requests to Japanese officials before the summit.

From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2023

He asked Suga’s government to step up and speed up medical and welfare support for the aging atomic bombing survivors, or hibakusha, whose average age is now over 83 years.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 8, 2021

Taki Homosoto was now a hibakusha, a survivor of Hiroshima, an embarrassing and dishonorable fact he would desperately try to conceal for the rest of his life.

From Terminal Compromise: computer terrorism: when privacy and freedom are the victims: a novel by Schwartau, Winn