-CIDE
Suffix.
[Sense 1 from French -cide from Latin -cida, sense 2 from French -cide from Latin -cidium cutting, kitting, from both cardere, -cidere cut, kill.]
1 Forming (usually with intermediate -i-) noun with the sense 'a person or substance that kills', as fratricide, insecticide, etc.
2 Forming (usually with intermediate -i-) nouns of action with the sense 'the killing of (the first element)', as suicide, etc.
If death is an unpleasant subject, how much more so is killing and destruction? And yet, as humans, we have both a proclivity for and fascination with it, as reflected in the vast array of killer
-cide words. While I must admit to a perverse pleasure in a list, it does offer a rather depressing window into the human condition, as language so often does. There are, for example, numerous words for the killing of women and children, but very few for the killing of men specifically (
fratricide,
patricide and, rather obliquely,
regicide). In terms of groups of people, however, the most represented by far is the family, an indicator of the axiom that we are, horrifically, most at risk from our
blood and kin.
And then there are the fanciful, curious and downright bizarre.
Not appearing in the
Shorter OED, these include
hospiticide, which is the killing of a host or guest who may or may not have been a friend, in which case it would also be
ambicide (and if he was your best friend it would also be
nepoticide, which is the killing of one's favourite). If you kill a prophet, that's
vaticide, and if, in doing so, you also destroy his reputation that's
famacide (although the killing of prophets usually does wonders for their rep); if said prophet were the last receptacle of a dying language, you would also have committed
linguicide in definitely destroying said language. Oh, and if you need another word for killing your wife, there's
utricide, and if you really are a megalomaniac nutter that wants to just destroy
everything, that would be
omnicide. Boom!
If, however, you're the selective sort that only wants
bona fide, confirmed and contemporary expressions of killing, below is a list of
-cide words that are in the
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, so you can use them freely without fear of correction or strange looks:
Killer -Cide Words from the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
The killing of trees
Bactericide
The killing of bacteria
Biocide
The destruction of life
Deicide
The killing of God or gods
Ecocide
The destruction of the environment
Episcopicide
The killing of a bishop
Felicide
Femicide
The killing of women
Feticide
The killing of a foetus
Foeticide
The killing of a foetus
Filicide
The killing of a son or daughter
Fratricide
Fungicide
The killing of fungus
Genocide
The killing of a race
Germicide
The killings of germs
Giganticide
The killing of giants
Herbicide
The killing of plants
Homicide
The killing of another human
Infanticide
The killing of an infant
Insecticide
The killing of insects
Larvicide
The killing of larva
Liberticide
The killing or destruction of liberty
Matricide
The killing of one's mother
Menticide
The destruction of one's mind
Molluscicide
The killing of molluscs
Ovicide
The destruction of eggs
Parasiticide
The killing of parasites
Parasuicide
Apparent attempted suicide without the intention of killing oneself
Parenticide
The killing of a close relative
Parricide
The killing of a close relative
Patricide
The killing of one's father
Perdricide
The killing of partridges
Pesticide
The killing of pests
Raticide
The killing of rats
Regicide
The killing of a king
Rodenticide
The killing of rats
Senicide
The killing of the elderly
Serpenticide
The killing of snakes
Siblicide
The killing of a sibling
Silvicide
That which kills trees
Sororicide
The killing of one's sister
Spermicide
That which kills sperm
Suicide
The killing of oneself
Taeniacide
The killing of tapeworms
Tauricide
The killing of bulls
Trypanocide
The killing of trypanosome parasites
Tyrannicide
The killing of a tyrant
Urbicide
The destruction of a city
(specifically, the destruction of the character of a city)
Uxoricide
The killing of one's wife
Verbicide
The killing of a word
(specifically, the destruction of the meaning of a word)
Viricide
The destruction of a virus
Virucide
The destruction of a virus
Vulpicide
The killing of foxes
Phew! That was a lot of killing.
Do you know any other -cide words?
(because we really need some more)
Do please leave any comments in the box below.