When you hear 'kamikaze' are you hearing English or Japanese?

'Kamikaze' is a word borrowed from Japanese 'kamikaze'. The word entered the English language some time around 1945.

kamikaze [noun] [1945]

• a member of a Japanese air attack corps in World War II assigned to make a suicidal crash on a target (as a ship)
• an airplane containing explosives to be flown in a suicide crash on a target

See 'kamikaze' on the Loan Words Map

See more loan words from Japanese.

Etymology: Japanese, literally, divine wind

See more loan words from 1940s.