kamikaze
/kammikaazi/ noun (in the Second World War) a Japanese aircraft loaded with explosives and making a deliberate suicidal crash on an enemy target. adjective reckless or potentially self-destructive. ORIGIN from the Japanese words for divinity and wind, originally referring to the gale that, in Japanese tradition, destroyed the fleet of invading Mongols in 1281.
Perform another search of the Compact Oxford English Dictionary
About this dictionary
The Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English contains 145,000 words, phrases, and definitions.
Find out more about Oxford's range of English dictionaries
Sign up for the AskOxford Word of the Day
Search the Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
Search the Concise Dictionary of First Names
|