Harakiri
[ˌhaʁaˈkiːʁi]
The verdict
“Harakiri” is uncommon German (frequency #74,683 among 59,066 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #74,683
- frequency rank, German
- 59,066
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - gängige Bezeichnung für Seppuku, den rituellen Selbstmord im feudalistischen Japan
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Harakiri |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ˌhaʁaˈkiːʁi] |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #74,683 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Harakiri” sits in German frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Harakiri is uncommon German at frequency #74,683 among 59,066 “H” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ˌhaʁaˈkiːʁi]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for Harakiri in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct German form is Harakiri, spelled H-A-R-A-K-I-R-I.
Definition
- 1gängige Bezeichnung für Seppuku, den rituellen Selbstmord im feudalistischen Japan
- 2übertragen von [1], „gesellschaftlicher Selbstmord“, eine Blamage, die das Ende der Karriere bedeutet
- 3übertragen von [1], bewusstes Herbeiführen einer Niederlage (die ebenfalls meist das Ende der Karriere bedeutet)
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Harakiri"?
What does "Harakiri" mean?
How do you pronounce "Harakiri"?
What language does "Harakiri" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Harakiri”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is H-A-R-A-K-I-R-I - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˌhaʁaˈkiːʁi] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Other uncommon German words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.