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Added 9 October 2026

slaughter

/ˈslɔːtə/ noun

In Latin: nex, trucīdātiō Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about slaughter at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

The killing of animals (as for food).
A sound defeat.
The savage and excessive killing of many people.

verb

Kill (animals) usually for food consumption.
They slaughtered their only goat to survive the winter
Kill a large number of people indiscriminately.
The Hutus massacred the Tutsis in Rwanda

Origin

From Middle English slaughter, from Old Norse *slahtr, later sláttr, from Proto-Germanic *slahtrą, from Proto-Germanic *slahaną. Equivalent to slay + -ter (as in laughter). Eventually derived from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, strike, throw”). Related with Dutch slachten, German schlachten, Finnish lahdata (all “to slaughter”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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