99 WAYS to KILL
by Leigh Lundin
In my perambulations and peregrinations around the World Wide Web, I stumbled across a fragment of an article originally published by the Chicago Sun-Times, but archived for an annoying fee by High Beam Encyclopedia, which touts itself to be the comprehensive digital archive for information seekers of all ages, again, for a fee.
Therein, an article by James J. Kilpatrick began:
A message is at hand from a gentlewoman in Oak Ridge, Tenn. My correspondent was familiar with most murderous terms: homicide, fratricide, infanticide, and of course uxoricide, which is the killing of a wife by her husband. Prudence suggests that her name be withheld, for she is looking for a particular word and she may be thinking of putting the word to use. "What is the English word," she asks, "that specifically means the killing of a husband by his wife?"
I’m certainly glad Kilpatrick respected the request for anonymity of Prudence, of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 37763.
My mental database seemed empty of answers. The Oxford Electronic Dictionary and Thesaurus ships standard with every Macintosh. I like the OED, but when it comes to searching, I love my old American Heritiage Electronic Dictionary that’s been unsupported for years and requires OS-9 or older to run.
The AHED (their term, not mine) claims to have 130,000 words and they include a number of ways to find them. One of the simplest and most useful (expecially for crossword fanatics) involves ‘wild cards’, or generic character substitutes.
In this case, I entered "*cide" and it whipped out an array of entries. It seems humans have derived a dismayingly large vocabulary for killing people and things. A visit to the Phrontistery turned up ‘weedicide’ and a couple of additional words. Chilling when you look at the whole.
Since we’re in the business of crime, here’s a handy reference for readers and writers:
- aborticide
- kills a fetus via abortion (see feticide)
- acaricide
- kills mites or ticks
- agnucide
- kills sheep
- agricide
- lays waste to farmland
- algicide
- kills algae
- amicicide
- kills a friend
- aphicide
- kills aphids (see aphidicide)
- aphidicide
- kills aphids (see aphicide)
- avicide
- kills birds
- bacillicide
- kills bacilli
- bactericide
- kills bacteria
- biocide
- kills any living organism
- bovicide
- kills cattle
- ceticide
- kills cetaceans (whales, dolphins)
- cimicide
- kills cimicidae (bedbugs)
- deicide
- kills a god
- ecocide
- destruction of the environment
- episcopicide
- kills bishops
- famicide
- destruction of one’s reputation (slanderer, libel)
- familicide
- kills one’s family
- felicide
- kills cats
- femicide
- kills a woman
- feticide
- kills a fetus (see fœticide)
- filicide
- kills one’s child
- floricide
- kills flowers
- foeticide
- kills a fetus (see feticide)
- formicide
- kills ants
- fratricide
- kills one’s brother
- fungicide
- kills fungus
- genocide
- eradication of a race or ethnic group
- germicide
- kills germs
- giganticide
- kills a giant
- gynaecide
- kills women
- herbicide
- kills plants
- hereticide
- kills heretics
- homicide
- kills a man; more generally, kills a human
- infanticide
- kills an infant
- insecticide
- kills insects
- larvicide
- kills larvae
- liberticide
- destruction of liberty
- lupicide
- kills a wolf
- mariticide
- kills one’s husband
- matricide
- kills one’s mother
- menticide
- destruction of mind by psychological means
- microbicide
- kills microbes
- miticide
- kills mites
- molluscicide
- kills mollusks
- muscicide
- kills muscids (flies)
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- nematicide
- kills nematode worms (see nematocide)
- nematocide
- kills nematode worms (see nematicide)
- neonaticide
- kills a newborn infant
- ovicide
- kills eggs; usually refers to insects
- ovicide
- alternate of agnucide (kills sheep)
- parasiticide
- kills parasites
- parasuicide
- attempted suicide or self-harm short of death
- parenticide
- kills one’s parents
- parricide
- kills parents or parentally close relative
- patricide
- kills one’s father
- perdricide
- kills partridges
- pesticide
- kills pests
- piscicide
- kills fish
- porcicide
- kills pigs
- prolicide
- kills offspring; kills the human species
- pulicide
- kills fleas
- raticide
- kills rats
- regicide
- kills a monarch
- rodenticide
- kills rodents
- senicide
- kills old men
- serpenticide
- kills snakes
- siblicide
- kills a sibling
- silvicide
- kills trees
- sororicide
- kills one’s own sister
- speciocide
- destruction of an entire species
- spermatocide
- kills sperm (see spermicide)
- spermicide
- kills spermatozoa
- sporicide
- kills spores
- suicide
- kills oneself
- taeniacide
- kills Cestoda Taneia (tapeworms)
- tauricide
- kills bulls (see bovicide)
- teniacide
- kills tapeworms (see taeniacide)
- trypanocide
- kills trypanosomes (blood-infesting protozoa)
- tyrannicide
- kills a tyrant
- urbicide
- destruction of or within a city
- ursicide
- kills or a kills bears
- utricide
- deliberately puncturing the inner ear
- uxoricide
- kills one’s own wife
- vaticide
- kills a prophet
- verbicide
- destruction of the meaning of a word
- vermicide
- kills worms
- vespacide
- kills wasps
- viricide
- kills men, kills life, or kills husbands
- virucide
- kills viruses; variant of viricide
- vulpicide
- kills a fox
- weedicide
- kills weeds (see herbicide)
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Sillicide
In researching today’s column, I came across a few other words that end in ‘cide’. Amongst those were two I had to look up:
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Childhood Ditty
By the sewer he lived,
By the sewer he died.
They said it was murder,
But it was sewer-side.
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- Barmecide
- Plentiful or abundant in appearance only; illusory. From Barmecide, a nobleman in The Arabian Nights, who served an imaginary feast to a beggar.
- silicide
- A binary compound of silicon with another element or radical.
Killing Time
Finally, to coincide with today’s column about ‘cide’ words and meaning, I decided to finish with a small quiz. Name two other common words that end in ‘cide’.
Gee, I don’t know. What I’ve decided is that the two words probably don’t really coincide with the subject matter.
I think it’s stepicide when you fall down the stairs, and movicide when you’re hit by a U-Haul. But maybe not.
Hmm, John. Perhaps casticide when you ditch someone.
Congratulations, Wendy, for decoding the two words!
The Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus ships standard with every Macintosh. I like the OED …
Not to be picky, but the Oxford Dictionary & Thesaurus is not remotely the same thing as the OED, the Oxford English Dictionary. The former is a convenient desk reference. The latter is the most monumental work of scholarship in the entirety of human history. The print edition of the OED comes in twenty volumes.
When I did a wild card search (“*cide”) in the electronic version of the OED, I got a list of 211 words. Many of them (e.g., “uxoricide”) are listed twice, however: once for the act and a second time for the actor.
Here’s the OED on the suffix “-cide”, which it traces back no further than 1797 (although homicide itself goes clear back to the fourteenth century):
1. a. F. -cide, L. -cida cutter, killer, slayer, f. cædere, in comp. -cidere to cut, kill, as in homicida, parricida, matricida, fratricida, sororicida, tyrannicida, etc., slayer of a man, father, mother, brother, sister, tyrant, etc.; also lapi(di)cida, stone-cutter, etc. Most of the L. words having the sense ‘slayer, murderer’, have come down into Romanic and English, where new combinations have also been formed on the same type, notably regicide and suicide; filicide has also been used; and many occasional forms appear as jocose nonce-words, e.g. apicide, avicide, canicide, ceticide, muricide, perdricide, tauricide, vaticide, verbicide; or, still more ludicrously, birdicide, prenticecide, suitorcide, etc. Also applied to preparations destructive of animal or vegetable life, as algicide, fungicide, germicide, insecticide, pesticide.
1866 Lond. Rev. 23 June 697/2 A charming garrulity far more attractive than the yarn of the venerable birdicide [the ‘Ancient Mariner’]. 1797 Canning, etc. Anti-jacobin 20 Nov. (heading), Mrs. Brownrigg, the ‘Prentice-cide’.
2. a. F. -cide, L. -cidium cutting, killing, of same deriv. as 1; and, as the name of the action, possible wherever the name of the actor in -cida was in use; e.g. homicidium, parricidium, matricidium, etc.; also sometimes independently as in bovicidium slaughter of oxen, etc. In English, as generally used as sense 1, the two implying each other, as in ‘the parricide is he who commits parricide’, etc.
Someone could redo the Tom Lehrer parody song about The Elements to the Gilbert & Sullivan Major-General’s Song:
“There’s Agricide, Aphidicide, Bacillicide, Amicicide/ And Parricide and Pesticide and Ecocide and Raticide…”