banzai charge
- noun
- /bænˈzaɪ tʃɑrdʒ/
:
carga banzai
- With a loud roar, the soldiers launched their desperate banzai charge, rushing toward the fortified positions.
Examples
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The troops prepared themselves for a final banzai charge against the enemy lines.
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To die in battle or a banzai charge, that's one thing.
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The legacy of the banzai charge remains a significant part of World War II history.
Synonyms
423
6.9
Close fighting during the final part of a military attack
65
4.8
A sudden, forceful rush forward, often to attack
A mass attack by soldiers who charge without caring if they are killed
How Reckless
Surface Forms
Morphology
banzai + charge
The word 'charge' transparently conveys a rush or attack, so a learner who knows both words could infer this is an attack accompanied by cries of 'banzai'. However, 'banzai' is a culturally specific exclamation and does not yield the full sense of a mass, often suicidal, WWII-style assault; the historical and suicidal connotations are not predictable from the parts, making the phrase only partially transparent.
Etymology
The noun banzai charge comes from World War II when Japanese soldiers shouted banzai, a loud cheer meaning 'ten thousand years', and then rushed the enemy together in a desperate attack. That's why the phrase now means a mass, often deadly, sudden attack.