regicide

[rej-uh-sahyd]

noun

the killing of a king.

a person who kills a king or is responsible for his death, especially one of the judges who condemned Charles I of England to death.

Origin of regicide

1540–50; < Latin rēg-, stem of rēx king + -i- + -cide

Related formsreg·i·cid·al, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for regicide

He was not directly implicated in the King's death, and all that he could be accused of was using words incentive to regicide.
Cornish Characters|S. Baring-Gould
Terrible confession wrung from a regicide in the most impious moment of history!
Catholic World, Vol. XI, April 1870-September 1870|Various
The room in which Martin the Regicide was imprisoned nearly twenty years, was pointed out to us.
Three Years in Europe|William Wells Brown
In the present case, the pride of the Regicide may be our safety.
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. V. (of 12)|Edmund Burke

They were, indeed, very like that dreadful scaffold at which the Regicide was not afraid to point.
A Short History of England|G. K. Chesterton

British Dictionary definitions for regicide

regicide

noun

the killing of a king

a person who kills a king

Derived Formsregicidal, adjective

Word Origin for regicide

C16: from Latin rēx king + -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

Word Origin and History for regicide

1540s, "man who kills a king," formed from Latin rex (genitive regis) "king" (see regal) on model of suicide. Meaning "crime of killing a king" is from c.1600.