abattoir

American  

[ab-uh-twahr, ab-uh-twahr] / ˈæb əˌtwɑr, ˌæb əˈtwɑr /

noun

1. a slaughterhouse.

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abattoir British  

/ ˈæbəˌtwɑː /

noun

1. another name for slaughterhouse

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Etymology

Origin of abattoir

1810–20; < French, equivalent to abatt ( re ) to slaughter ( see abate) + -oir -ory ²

Explanation

An abattoir is a slaughterhouse, or a place where animals are killed. It's not a word you're likely to hear or use unless you're involved in these activities. However, break abattoir into its component parts, abate + -ory, and things get a lot more interesting. -Ory is simple: it means "a place for," as in factory, laboratory, and even auditorium. Abate is more complex. Today it means "to lessen," but back when it came to English via the Old French abattre, it meant "to beat down," a meaning Old French had inherited from the Latin ad ("to") + battere ("beat"). So when you think of abattoir, you can think of the idea of "a beating," or an animal's life "abating" until it is gone.

Example Sentences

Abattoir labour shortages are being blamed on Brexit and the Covid pandemic.

From BBC • Oct. 6, 2021

No one was arrested or charged after 19 activists invaded the Carey Bros Abattoir near Warwick before dawn on Monday.

From The Guardian • Apr. 8, 2019

“This business has helped so many people,” said John Kariuki, director of Star Brilliant Donkey Export Abattoir in Naivasha.

From New York Times • Jan. 2, 2018

Robert F Kennedy Peter Sellers Henry Mancini Kitchen Whisky Abattoir What has a priest banned from a church hall because it was "not compatible" with the Catholic faith?

From BBC • Sep. 28, 2012

Adieu, my friend, for I am away to the other side of Paris, to the Abattoir of Grenelle!

From Reprinted Pieces by Dickens, Charles