What did kamikaze mean in world war 2?

Answer 1

Kamikaze (from Kami - "god" and kaze - "wind") means 'divine wind' in Japanese.

The original reference was to a timely typhoon which saved Japan from a Mongol invasion fleet in 1281.

By extension, the idea in the latter part of WW2 was of a force which would drive away or destroy the encroaching enemy ships, once again saving Japan.

Kamikaze (神風, Kamikaze? literally: "God-wind", "god speed", "light wind", "spirit-wind" or "divinity-wind" ; common translation: "divine wind") ([kamikazɛ] (help·info)) is a word of Japanese origin, which in English usually refers to the suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied shipping, in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, to destroy as many warships as possible.

The official Japanese term for these attacks was tokubetsu kōgekii tai (特別攻撃隊 "Special Attack Units"), often abbreviated as tokkōtai (特攻隊) , but the word shinpū (also meaning "divine wind"; another reading of the kanji for kamikaze) was also used for the suicide units. Though the Japanese government did not use the pronunciation kamikaze, it was commonly used by ordinary people, to whom it was considerably more familiar.

A Kamikazi is a bomb that can destroy half the world in an estimated time of 0.005 secs. It it basicly a nuclear bomb.

Answer 2

It means "divine wind" in Japanese, literally, although in a [possibly] more familiar context, it is often understood and used by people in the Western world to refer to Japanese pilots who flew their planes into Allied warships.

Answer 3

'Divine wind' is the specific meaning of 'kamikaze'.

Answer 4

Kamikaze is Japanese for "Divine Wind" .

Answer 5

"Divine wind".