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seppuku

[se-poo-koo]
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noun
  1. hara-kiri(def 1).
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Origin of seppuku

1900–05; < Japanese, earlier s(y)et-puku < Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese qiè cut + fù belly
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for seppuku

Historical Examples

  • Now my readers will understand that seppuku was not a mere suicidal process.

    Bushido, the Soul of Japan

    Inazo Nitob

  • Seppuku (hara-kiri) is the mode of suicide adopted amongst Samurai when they have no alternative but to die.

    Tales of Old Japan

    Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford

  • Hara-kiri, or seppuku, is the term applied to suicide among the samurai class.

    Myths &amp; Legends of Japan

    F. Hadland (Frederick Hadland) Davis

  • More usually the Japanese themselves speak of hara-kiri by its Chinese synonym, Seppuku.

  • This view of mental physiology once admitted, the syllogism of seppuku is easy to construct.

British Dictionary definitions for seppuku

seppuku

noun
  1. another word for hara-kiri
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Word Origin

from Japanese, from Chinese ch`ieh to cut + fu bowels
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012