Kiai

//kiːˈaɪ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The short yell or shout uttered when performing an attacking move in martial arts.

    "The kiai is a battle cry to raise your battle spirit. It keeps your body in top shape, in top concentration. Different people have different kiai."

Example

More examples

"The kiai is a battle cry to raise your battle spirit. It keeps your body in top shape, in top concentration. Different people have different kiai."

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 気合 (kiai).

Related phrases

martial arts

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.