parricide · noun — someone who kills a relative, especially a parent. It carries an Arena rating of 1600, earned across 8 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, parricide ranks #1,128 of 17,176 for Most Incisive Words, #1,254 of 17,146 for Most Storied Words, #2,848 of 17,171 for Scariest Words, #3,337 of 17,197 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
parricide is pronounced /ˈpæ.ɹɪ.saɪd/.
Why “parricide” is a great word
Parricide is the act of killing one's own parent or close relative, or the one who commits it. From Middle French parricide, from Latin parricīda ('kin-killer') and parricīdium ('kin-murder'), of uncertain origin, perhaps from pār ('equal'). Unlike patricide, which isolates the slaying of the father, or regicide, the public execution of a sovereign, parricide is the violation of the private, primal trust. It is the cold weight of the household weapon, the sudden scent of iron where only bread and sleep should be, the betrayal that feels not like a rupture of law but of the very order of nature—the murder of origin itself, leaving a silence so profound it echoes in the blood.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From Middle French parricide, from Latin parricīda, of uncertain origin, perhaps from pār (“equal”).
noun
- Someone who kills a relative, especially a parent.e.g.“I told him the reuenging Gods, / ’Gainst Paricides did all the thunder bend […]” — c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, publishe
- Someone who commits treason.
- The killing of a relative, especially a parent.
- The killing of a ruler, or other authority figure; treason.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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