• Lemminary@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          10 months ago

          Not quite but I can see why people think so. Both words stem from the same Kanji pair: 腹切. Abdomen cut.

          But one is read natively (harakiri) with an informal and colloquial feel to it and the other uses borrowed Chinese readings (seppuku) that makes it sound more formal/ritualistic to be used in formal settings. But they mean the same thing and both refer to the ritual.

          A similar example is Japan’s own name: 日本. It’s usually read as “nihon” but has a special, formal reading of “nippon”.

          Lemminary to Science Memes@mander.xyz • nuked from orbit English6•