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The Chinese characters 馬鹿 for baka literally mean "horse-deer". The word may come from a story mentioned in Records of the Grand Historian, a 1st century BC historical book from China, written by Sima Qian. The story is about how Zhao Gao, who conspired a coup d'etat, tested his servants' loyalty. He referred to his deer offering to Emperor Qin Er Shi as a horse. Some followed suit and called it a horse, while others called it a deer. Zhao Gao had those who disagreed with him executed.

A related idiom is Shika o sashite uma to nasu. (Point at a deer and call it a horse.) which comes from the same story. It means to push one's agendas using one's authority, despite having contradictions; also, to make fun of others. Another Japanese idiom is, "Demo baka wa shinanakya o naoranai." (However, only death can cure a fool.)

Another theory states that the word baka was first used by BuddhistTian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living. Buddhism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of Siddhrtha Gautama ( Sanskrit; in Pli, Siddhattha Gotama , who lived between approximately 563 and 483 BCE. monkA monk is a male religious ascetic. The word comes from the Greek monachos , commonly translated as a solitary person''. It should be noted, however, that monachos is a word that had to be forged especially to name the then new phenomenon of men living sos, and the word originated from a Sanskrit word moha. This theory states that the Chinese characters were merely a transcriptionTranscription is the conversion into written, typewritten or printed form, of a written source such as the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica articles of which are transcribed into the Wikipedia or spoken language source, such as the proceedings of a court hea.

When used as an adjective in Japanese, baka (na) can mean "absurd" or "crazy", not necessarily "idiotic".

During World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough, United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in servicemen gave the name "Baka" to the OhkaThe Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka ( " cherry blossom") was a purpose-built kamikaze aircraft employed by Japan towards the end of World War II. The US gave the aircraft the Japanese name Baka ("fool"). It was a small flying bomb that was carried underneath a Mitsub piloted flying bombA flying bomb is a small aircraft carrying a large explosive warhead. In contrast to a bomber aircraft, which is intended to release bombs and then return to its base for re-use, a flying bomb crashes into its target and is therefore itself destroyed in is being flown on kamikaze missions against the United States Navy.

Baka also means "rookie soldier" in Hungarian.