Kamikaze [kamikazɛ] (help·info) (Japanese: 神風; literally: "Go-wind,""spirit-wind," or "divinity-wind"; common translation: "divine wind") 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.