-cide
- a learned borrowing from Latin meaning “killer,” “act of killing,” used in the formation of compound words: pesticide, homicide.
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Origin of -cide
late Middle English < Latin -cīda killer, -cīdium act of killing, derivatives of caedere to cut down, kill (in compounds -cīdere)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
-cide
- indicating a person or thing that killsinsecticide
- indicating a killing; murderhomicide
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Word Origin
from Latin -cīda (agent), -cīdium (act), from caedere to kill
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for -cide
word-forming element meaning "killer," from French -cide, from Latin -cida "cutter, killer, slayer," from -cidere, comb. form of caedere "to strike down, chop, beat, hew, fell, slay," from PIE *kae-id-, from root *(s)k(h)ai- "to strike" (Pokorny, not in Watkins; cf. Sanskrit skhidati "beats, tears," Lithuanian kaisti "shave," German heien "beat"). For Latin vowel change, see acquisition. The element also can represent "killing," from French -cide, from Latin -cidium "a cutting, a killing."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
-cide
- Killer:bactericide.
- Act of killing:suicide.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
-cide
- A suffix that means a killer of. It is used to form the names of chemicals that kill a specified organism, such as pesticide, a chemical that kills pests.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.