Parricide
/ˈpærɪsaɪd/noun
The act of killing one’s parent or a person who kills a parent.
Did you know?In ancient Rome, convicted parricides could face the poena cullei: being sewn into a sack with animals and thrown into water, symbolically denied both earth and ordinary burial.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ph₂tḗr
“Father; the ancient root behind Latin pater and English father”
Classical Latin
Latin
pater
“Father”
Classical Latin
Latin
parricīda
“A person who kills a parent; traditionally analyzed in connection with parent/father and caedere, “to kill””
Late Latin
Latin
parricidium
“The killing of a parent; parricide”
16th Century
English
parricide
“The murder of a parent, or the murderer”
Modern English
English
parricide
“The killing of one’s parent or the person who commits it”