If anyone has ever seen a dubbed episode of DBZ, you might have heard of 'ki'. In the beginning, my friends and
I were puzzled at what this could possibly mean, but after boring research, I have found a way to explain it. I'll try to explain it here and hopefully clear things up. "Ki" is a
Japanese concept that is very difficult to explain exactly in English. It is somewhat of a
personal energy/life force, although I think it goes beyond that; I'm not going to try to
explain further, partially because I don't completely understand myself. :) In any case, in
the DB/DBZ series, ki plays a very large role, most notably that is the source of energy
that is used to produce those gigantic energy blasts, and is what allows the characters
to fly. The characters also learn to "sense" ki, so that they can roughly tell how
powerful someone is, who they are, where they are, whether or not they are hurt or
dying, whether they are good or evil, etc. So if you see "ki attack" or "ki technique," it is
a technique that is used with ki rather than physical techniques like special punches or
kicks, etc.
Ki: Means energy. It is the internal energy you generate when you attack something.
Ki-ai: The shout made when focussing the Ki.
Ha: In the following attacks, 'ha' appears in the name occasionaly. While 'ha' can
translate to 'wave', it is also ki-ai people make when focussing their bodies on an attack.
Usually, 'ha' doesn't really have meaning, it's just a loud sound made when you're
fighting.
Ken: This can mean either 'fist' or 'technique.' As in Hokuto no Ken: It can mean "Fist
of the Northstar" or "Northstar Techniques"
Thanx to Ultimate Dbz for helping me out.