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genocide.

The systematic and deliberate destruction of a group of people; typically by killing substantial numbers of them, on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, nationality, or similar grounds.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈd͡ʒɛnəsaɪd/
  1. The systematic and deliberate destruction of a group of people; typically by killing substantial numbers of them, on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, nationality, or similar grounds.

    countable · uncountable
    A genocide will always be followed by the denial that it ever happened.
  2. The systematic suppression of ideas or practices on the basis of cultural or ethnic origin; culturicide.

    broadly · countable · uncountable
    linguistic genocide
  3. The elimination of an entire class of monsters by the player in roguelikes.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁os Proto-Hellenic *génos Ancient Greek γένος (génos) Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *kh₂éydeti Proto-Italic *kaidō Latin caedō Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂ Proto-Italic *-ā Latin -a Latin -cīda Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -iusnom. Latin -ium Latin -cīdiumder. Middle French -cidebor. English -cide English genocide From the stem of Ancient Greek γένος (génos, “race, kind”) (cognate with Latin gēns (“tribe, clan”), whence genus), corresponding to geno- + -cide (“killing”). Piecewise doublet of gendercide. Compare genticide. Coined by Polish Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1943 or 1944 in reference to the Armenian Genocide (then known by other names; for more information, see Terminology of the Armenian genocide on Wikipedia), massacres of Assyrians (such as the Simele massacre and Seyfo) and the Jewish Holocaust.

verb/ˈd͡ʒɛnəsaɪd/
  1. To commit genocide (against); to eliminate (a group of people) completely.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁os Proto-Hellenic *génos Ancient Greek γένος (génos) Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *kh₂éydeti Proto-Italic *kaidō Latin caedō Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂ Proto-Italic *-ā Latin -a Latin -cīda Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -iusnom. Latin -ium Latin -cīdiumder. Middle French -cidebor. English -cide English genocide From the stem of Ancient Greek γένος (génos, “race, kind”) (cognate with Latin gēns (“tribe, clan”), whence genus), corresponding to geno- + -cide (“killing”). Piecewise doublet of gendercide. Compare genticide. Coined by Polish Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1943 or 1944 in reference to the Armenian Genocide (then known by other names; for more information, see Terminology of the Armenian genocide on Wikipedia), massacres of Assyrians (such as the Simele massacre and Seyfo) and the Jewish Holocaust.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.