regicide
Americannoun
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the killing of a king.
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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.
noun
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the killing of a king
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a person who kills a king
Other Word Forms
- regicidal adjective
Etymology
Origin of regicide
Explanation
Regicide is the killing of a king (or queen). The word derives from the Latin regis, meaning "king," and the ancient French cide, meaning "killer." Today, the word regicide can also be applied to politicians who topple a president or prime minister. People had been killing kings and queens (think Cleopatra) long before the term regicide really took off, which was after the execution of King Charles I in England in 1649. He was executed by guillotine, but a far worse fate awaited those who had signed off on his killing: they were hung, drawn, and quartered. Dangerous profession, regicide.
Vocabulary lists containing regicide
Banned Book Club
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Children of Virtue and Vengeance
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A Storm of Swords
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They predict confidently, the party "doesn't want regicide or disruption, they just want us to do well".
From BBC • Sep. 27, 2025
When Macbeth’s qualms about committing regicide get the better of him, she reprimands him mercifully.
From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2024
In Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, French philosopher Michel Foucault contrasts the public execution by dismemberment of Robert-François Damiens, convicted of attempted regicide, with the rise of the modern penal system.
From Slate • Nov. 30, 2022
Unsurprisingly, it was the redesigned M2 MacBook Air to commit this regicide.
From The Verge • Jul. 25, 2022
“I am an attainted traitor, a regicide, and kinslayer.”
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
