Harakiri
Ritual Suicide
noun
If your abdomen is getting cut, and you're the one doing the cutting, there's a good chance you're committing harakiri, a form of ritual suicide.
腹切り sounds blunt and colloquial compared to the more formal 切腹. Kind of like you're just saying the words "belly cutting" — not very refined! This is often the case with synonym pairs like this: the one with kun'yomi readings will sound more casual, while the one with on'yomi readings will sound more formal.
The readings come from 腹 and 切る. If you're lucky, you already know the word harakiri as it's made its way into English as well.
大名はその下級武士に腹切りを命じた。
The feudal lord ordered the low-grade samurai to perform ritual suicide.
外国人に「腹切り」という言葉の方が広まったのは、響きにインパクトあったからかもね。
The word "harakiri" might have spread more among foreigners because the sound of it has a strong impact.
腹切りって言葉、なんだか切腹よりも生々しい感じがするよね。
The word harakiri feels somehow more visceral than seppuku, doesn’t it?
侍の腹切りをテーマにした映画は来週公開されます。
The movie based on samurai harakiri will be released next week.