patricide · noun — the murder of one's father. It carries an Arena rating of 1566, earned across 105 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, patricide ranks #89 of 17,171 for Scariest Words, #1,249 of 17,162 for Most Elegant Words, #1,506 of 17,176 for Most Incisive Words, #2,950 of 17,146 for Most Storied Words.
patricide is pronounced /ˈpætɹɪsaɪd/.
Why “patricide” is a great word
PATRICIDE — [Noun] The act of murdering one's father, or a person who commits such an act. From the Latin pater ("father") and -cida ("killer") or -cidium ("killing"), via Middle French patricide. First attested in English c. 1590s for the agent and c. 1620s for the act. Unlike parricide, which blurs the victim into any close kin, or patriarchy, which denotes the system of authority he embodies, patricide is a crime of singular, dreadful specificity. It is the axe blow that fells the family oak, the poison in the patriarch's cup, the deliberate snuffing of the sun by which all other familial orbits were defined—an intimate annihilation of one's own origin.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French patricide or Latin patricīdium. Equivalent to patri- + -cide.
noun
- The murder of one's father.
- One who has murdered their father.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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