parricide

[ par-uh-sahyd ]

/ ˈpær əˌsaɪd /

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noun

the act of killing one's father, mother, or other close relative.

a person who commits such an act.

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Origin of parricide

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

OTHER WORDS FROM parricide

par·ri·cid·al, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH parricide

matricide, parricide , patricide

Words nearby parricide

parra, parrakeet, parramatta, Parran, parrel, parricide, Parrington, Parrish, Parris Island, parritch, parrot

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use parricide in a sentence

It is but too true that one fanatic is sufficient for the commission of a parricide, without any accomplice.
A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 1 (of 10)|Franois-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire)
But a fanatical or parricide priest is not incited in this way; heaven is held out to him, and not a woman.
A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 1 (of 10)|Franois-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire)
The boys had too much intelligence and shrewdness not to have judged their father; and to judge a father is moral parricide.
Juana|Honore de Balzac
Now we are asked to allow a tomb-haunter to call a parricide to disclose that which he himself is ignorant of.
Kai Lung's Golden Hours|Ernest Bramah

The contemplating a father's death and profiting by the contemplation—it seems a kind of parricide—it is not natural, Randal.
Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol. IV, No. 19, Dec 1851|Various

British Dictionary definitions for parricide

parricide

/ (ˈpærɪˌsaɪd) /

noun

the act of killing either of one's parents

a person who kills his parent

Derived forms of parricide

parricidal, adjective

Word Origin for parricide

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

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