fratricide
- a person who kills his or her brother.
- the act of killing one's brother.
Origin of fratricide
Examples from the Web for fratricide
Contemporary Examples of fratricide
Hillary Rodham Clinton must be reveling in the latest round of Republican fratricide.
Historical Examples of fratricide
For she, like her father and all the Borgias, firmly believed that Cæsar was a fratricide.
Lucretia BorgiaFerdinand Gregorovius
Absolution to any parricide, matricide, or fratricide, for three ducats.
FaustusFriedrich Maximilian von Klinger
The fratricide also is said by some to have been committed in this place.
Early Travels in PalestineArculf et al.
But what can be expected from the descendants of the fratricide Romulus?
The Holy Roman EmpireJames Bryce
And the history of human wo begins with Cain the fratricide.
Wanderings in Corsica, Vol. 1 of 2Ferdinand Gregorovius
fratricide
- the act of killing one's brother
- a person who kills his brother
- military the destruction of or interference with a nuclear missile before it can strike its target caused by the earlier explosion of a warhead at a nearby target
Word Origin for fratricide
Word Origin and History for fratricide
mid-15c., "person who kills a brother;" 1560s, "act of killing a brother," from Latin fratricida "brother-slayer," from frater "brother" (see brother) + cida "killer," or cidum "a killing," both from caedere "to kill, to cut down" (see -cide). Among several Old English words for this were broðorbana "one who kills a brother;" broðorcwealm "act of killing a brother."