magbote means compensation paid by someone who killed their relative. It carries an Arena rating of 1328, earned across 8 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, magbote ranks #216 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #771 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #778 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #1,648 of 17,163 for Funniest Words.
magbote is pronounced /ˈmeɪɡˌboʊt/.
Why “magbote” is a great word
A monetary compensation paid by a killer to the relatives of a slain kinsman, a learned borrowing from Old English mǣġbōt, from mǣġ ("kinsman") + bōt ("remedy, compensation"). Unlike manbote, a payment owed to a slain man's lord, or the broader weregild, the price set on any life, mægbote is the specific, sanctioned toll for severing the closest of bonds. It is the heavy weight of silver arm-rings passed across a hearth now cold, the formal clasp of forearms that once embraced in kinship, and the scent of damp earth and mead hanging in a hall where a shared bloodline has been ruptured—a grim ledger entry where love and law become indistinguishable.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Old English mǣġbōt (“compensation paid to the kinsman of a murdered man”), from mǣġ (“kinsman”) + bōt (“remedy; remediation”). Compare manbote.
noun
- Compensation paid by someone who killed their relative.e.g.“As to the Cynegild or Mægbote, it appears also from Tacitus, that the whole Family received satisfaction for a Kinsman slain.” — 1685, William Howell, An Institution of General History, Or The History of the World, page 308:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- manbote 78% match — A sum paid to a lord as a pecuniary compensation for killing his vassal, servant, or tenant. vs magbote →
- bote 75% match — Atonement, compensation, amends, satisfaction; as, manbote, a compensation for a man slain. vs magbote →
- kinbote 71% match — A fine paid to the kin of the victim of a crime. vs magbote →
- bloodwealth 63% match — Compensation paid by the family of a murderer to the family of the victim. vs magbote →
- hadbot 63% match — Recompense demanded under old English law for violence or insult to a person in holy orders. vs magbote →
- theftbote 62% match — The receiving of a person's goods back from a thief, or a compensation for them, with the intent that the thief shall escape punishment. vs magbote →
- wergeld 60% match — Blood money, the monetary value assigned to a person, set according to their rank, used to determine the compensation paid by the perpetrator of a crime to the victim in the case of injury or to the victim's kindred in the case of homicide; such a reparative payment or compensation. vs magbote →
- mabugo 55% match — money given by mourners toward a deceased person's funeral expenses vs magbote →