Compound of 核 ('nucleus; nuclear') and 爆弾 ('bomb'). 核 prefixes a wide range of nuclear-related terms: 核兵器 ('nuclear weapon'), 核実験 ('nuclear test'), 核廃絶 ('nuclear abolition').
Usage
Used in news reporting, political discussion, and historical writing about nuclear weapons. In contemporary public discourse in Japan — where the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are a foundational memory — 核-related vocabulary carries strong moral weight. The abolitionist phrase 核廃絶 appears frequently.
Common collocations
- 核爆弾の脅威: the threat of nuclear bombs
- 核爆弾を保有する: to possess nuclear bombs
- 核爆弾を投下する: to drop a nuclear bomb
- 核爆弾の開発: development of nuclear bombs
- 核爆弾の廃絶: abolition of nuclear bombs
- 核爆弾の実験: testing of nuclear bombs
Similar words
- 核兵器: nuclear weapon — broader term including missiles and warheads, not just bombs
- 原子爆弾: atomic bomb — fission bomb; the Hiroshima/Nagasaki type (abbreviated 原爆)
- 水素爆弾: hydrogen bomb — fusion bomb (abbreviated 水爆)
- 核弾頭: nuclear warhead — the nuclear payload of a missile
- 核実験: nuclear test
Cultural note
Japan is the only country to have been attacked with atomic bombs (Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 1945), which has given the topic of nuclear weapons special moral significance in Japanese society. The phrase 'the only atomically bombed nation' (唯一の被爆国) is often invoked in discussions of nuclear policy and disarmament.