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parricide

[ par-uh-sahyd ]

noun

  1. the act of killing one's father, mother, or other close relative.
  2. a person who commits such an act.


parricide

/ ˈpærɪˌsaɪd /

noun

  1. the act of killing either of one's parents
  2. a person who kills his parent
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Derived Forms

  • ˌparriˈcidal, adjective
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Other Words From

  • parri·cidal adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of parricide1

1545–55; < Latin parricīdum act of kin-murder, parricīda kin-killer, equivalent to pāri- (akin to Greek pāós, Attic pēós kinsman) + -cīdum, -cida -cide
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Word History and Origins

Origin of parricide1

C16: from Latin parricīdium murder of a parent or relative, and from parricīda one who murders a relative, from parri- (element related to Greek pēos kinsman) + -cīdium, -cīda -cide
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Example Sentences

Indeed, Homo sapiens would be gone precisely because we avoided final extinction, as our successor is what murdered us — a technological case of parricide.

From Salon

Comedy is especially susceptible to generational change and bias; although young comics often cite older ones as inspirations, and a few giants remain funny across the decades, the art survives by parricide.

There Oliverotto too was captured, a year after he committed his parricide, and together with Vittellozzo, who had been his teacher in his virtues and wickedness, he was strangled.

Why would one woman commit mass parricide by poisoning 300 relatives, family friends, and herself at what should've been a joyous celebration?

From Salon

"It was like a Greek tragedy unfolding, and it ended like a Greek tragedy - in a symbolic parricide," says journalist Olivier Beaumont.

From BBC

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parrelParrington