filicide
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English
Etymology
From Latin fīlius (“son”), fīlia (“daughter”) + -cide.
Pronunciation
Noun
filicide (countable and uncountable, plural filicides)
- The killing of one's own child.
- 1820, Charles Maturin, Melmoth the Wanderer:
- it began by violating nature, and ends in filicide. (I, v)
- 2014, Albert Lee Strickland, “Familicide”, in Michael John Brennan, editor, The A–Z of Death and Dying: Social, Medical, and Cultural Aspects, Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, pages 205–206:
- Terms related to familicide include filicide (the killing of one's child or children), uxoricide (the killing of one's wife), fratricide or sororicide (the killing of one's brother or sister), avunculicide (the killing of one's uncle), and nepoticide (the killing of one's nephew).
- A person who kills his or her own child.
- 1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin Books, published 2006, page 287:
- Ned is running, panicked, […] running for the cold hard road and the sanctuary of the Brunch farm like a filicide caught in the act.
Usage notes
Infanticide is the usual English term, especially if the victim is at or near infancy. Filicide implies specifically the killing of one's own son or daughter, especially biological and if the victim lived past infancy.
Derived terms
Translations
killing of one's own child
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person who kills his or her own child