Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun : Death, such as from heart attack or stroke, brought on by overwork or job-related stress.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Japanese 過労死 (karōshi), from 過労 (karō, "overwork") +  (shi, "death").

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Examples

  • In Japan, the term karoshi can be translated literally as “death from overwork”—most commonly from heart attack and stroke.

    The Power of Full Engagement Jim Loehr 2003

  • In Japan, the term karoshi can be translated literally as “death from overwork”—most commonly from heart attack and stroke.

    The Power of Full Engagement Jim Loehr 2003

  • In Japan, the term karoshi can be translated literally as “death from overwork”—most commonly from heart attack and stroke.

    The Power of Full Engagement Jim Loehr 2003

  • In the press this was called karoshi, death from overwork, and reports on the trend had become popular.

    Crazy Like Us Ethan Watters 2010

  • Young and beautiful, Mifumi died there on the screen though he doesn't really die for fifty or more years, they think from something they call karoshi, which means he worked himself to death.

    Kurosawa's Rain 2008

  • Young and beautiful, Mifumi died there on the screen though he doesn't really die for fifty or more years, they think from something they call karoshi, which means he worked himself to death.

    Kurosawa's Rain Rosanne Griffeth 2008

  • It's known as karoshi, literally to be worked to death.

    CNN Transcript Dec 5, 2007 2007

  • Sudden deaths from brain and heart disorders are classified as karoshi if linked to extremely long hours and on-the-job stress.

    Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion 2008

  • The problem has become so widespread that the Japanese even have a word, "karoshi," which means "death from overwork."

    Thomas Stern: A Kick in the Career: Amazing True Stories of Death by Overtime 2008

  • South Korea and Japan are the only countries where death by work or "karoshi" is a recognized phenomenon.

    digg.com: Stories / Popular 2009

Comments

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  • “Death by overwork�?

    January 8, 2008

  • Karoshi (�?�労死) (pronounced /karo:Si/), which can be translated quite literally from the Japanese as "death from overwork", is occupational sudden death. The major medical causes of karoshi deaths are heart attack and stroke due to stress.

    The first case of karoshi was reported in 1969 with the death from a stroke of a 29-year-old married male worker in the shipping department of Japan's largest newspaper company. It was not until the latter part of the 1980s, however, when several high-ranking business executives who were still in their prime years suddenly died without any previous sign of illness, that the media began picking up on what appeared to be a new phenomenon. This new phenomenon was quickly labelled karoshi, and once it had a name and its symptoms were described and popularized, it was immediately seen as a new and serious menace for people in the work force. In 1987, as public concern increased, the Japanese Ministry of Labour began to publish statistics on karoshi.

    Usually, Japan's rise from the devastation of World War II to economic prominence in the post-war decades has been regarded as the trigger for what has been called a new epidemic. It was recognized that employees cannot work for up to twelve hours a day six or seven days a week, year after year, without suffering physically as well as mentally.

    Meanwhile, death-by-overwork lawsuits have been on the rise in Japan, with the deceased person's relatives demanding compensation payments. However, before compensation can be awarded, the labour inspection office must acknowledge that the death was work-related.

    In Korea, where a Confucian-inspired work ethic involves much of the adult populace, both male and female, in a six-day workweek with long hours, this phenomenon is known as "kwarosa" (Hangul, 과로사), a word derived from the same Chinese characters as its Japanese equivalent (�?�, ka, being the Chinese character for "exceed", 労, rou, for "labor", and 死, shi, for "death").

    July 9, 2008