matricide

American  

[ma-tri-sahyd, mey-] / ˈmæ trɪˌsaɪd, ˈmeɪ- /

noun

1. the act of killing one's mother.

2. a person who kills their mother.

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matricide British  

/ ˈmeɪ-, ˈmætrɪˌsaɪd /

noun

1. the act of killing one's own mother

2. a person who kills his mother

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Other Word Forms

• matricidal adjective

Etymology

Origin of matricide

First recorded 1585–95; from Latin mātricīdium matricide ( def. 1 ), mātricīda matricide ( def. 2 ); matri-, -cide

Example Sentences

It is a penetrating and restrained portrait of a matricide trial that will leave you moved and changed.

From Seattle Times • May 10, 2023

Presumably, we want a severe social sanction against matricide; parents will certainly think so.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 8, 2019

For these worms, matricide is the rule: They don't lay eggs, even when food is plentiful.

From Science Magazine • Nov. 28, 2018

It may be matricide, it may not be in the new thriller “Did I Kill My Mother?”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 15, 2018

To have brought a Federal ship into the waters of Georgia, and ravaged her coasts, and fired upon her people, would have been, in his eyes, little less than matricide.

From Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States by Semmes, Raphael