behead

English

Etymology

From Middle English beheden, bihefden, biheveden, from Old English behēafdian (“to behead”), equivalent to be- (“off, away”) +‎ head.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɪˈhɛd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛd

Verb

behead (third-person singular simple present beheads, present participle beheading, simple past and past participle beheaded)

Leonard Siffleet, an Australian prisoner of war, was beheaded by Japanese soldiers in 1943.

1. (transitive) To deliberately remove the head of; to cut off (someone's) head.
   • 1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 68:

     “For a while it was hand-to-hand between us,
     then blood went curling along the currents
     and I beheaded Grendel's mother in the hall
     with a mighty sword.”]

Synonyms

• decapitate
• decollate

Derived terms

• beheadable
• beheadal
• beheaded
• beheadee
• beheader
• beheading

Translations

to remove the head — see also decapitate

• Arabic: ضَرَبَ عُنُقَهُ (ḍaraba ʕunuqahu)
• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܩܪܩܦ (qrqp), ܫܩܠ ܩܪܩܦܬܐ (šqal qarqafṯa)

• Armenian: գլխատել (hy) (glxatel), գլուխը կտրել (gluxə ktrel)
• Aromanian: gushuescu
• Belarusian: абезгало́ўліваць impf (abjezhalówlivacʹ), абезгало́віць pf (abjezhalóvicʹ)
• Bulgarian: обезглавя́вам (bg) impf (obezglavjávam)
• Burmese: ခေါင်းဖြတ် (hkaung:hprat, literally “cut off the head”)
• Catalan: decapitar (ca), degollar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (informal) 砍頭 / 砍头 (zh) (kǎntóu), (formal) 斬首 / 斩首 (zh) (zhǎnshǒu)

• Czech: stít
• Danish: halshugge
• Dutch: onthoofden (nl)
• Esperanto: senkapigi
• Estonian: pead maha raiuma
• Faroese: hálshøgga
• Finnish: katkaista kaula, mestata (fi)
• French: décapiter (fr)
• Georgian: თავის მოჭრა (tavis moč̣ra), თავის მოკვეთა (tavis moḳveta), თავის წაგდებინება (tavis c̣agdebineba)
• German: enthaupten (de), köpfen (de)
• Greek: αποκεφαλίζω (el) (apokefalízo)

  Ancient Greek: πελεκίζω (pelekízō), ἀποκεφαλίζω (apokephalízō)

• Hebrew: עָרַף (he) (aráf), הִתִּיז (he) (hitíz)

  Biblical Hebrew: כָּרַת רֹאשׁ, הֵסִיר רֹאשׁ

• Hungarian: lefejez (hu), lefejezni
• Indonesian: memenggal (id), memancung
• Italian: decapitare (it)
• Japanese: (phrase) 首を刎ねる (くびをはねる, kubi o haneru), 斬首する (ja) (ざんしゅする, zanshu suru), 刎ねる (ja) (はねる, haneru), (phrase) 打ち首にする (ja) (うちくびにする, uchikubi ni suru)
• Khmer: កាត់ក្បាល (km) (kat kbaal), កាត់ក (km) (kat kɑɑ)
• Korean: 목을 베다 (mogeul beda)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ser jê kirin (ku), ser birîn (ku)

• Lao: ຕັດຫົວ (tadhua, literally “beheading”)
• Latin: dēcollō, dētruncō, obtruncō, (Late) decapito
• Luxembourgish: käppen
• Macedonian: обезглавува (obezglavuva)
• Malay: pancung (ms)
• Māori: pōuto (i te kaki), whakatumu
• Norwegian: halshugge, halshogge
• Old English: beheafdian
• Old Saxon: gihōfdon, hōfdon
• Persian: گردن زدن (fa) (gardan zadan)
• Polish: ściąć głowę pf
• Portuguese: decapitar (pt), degolar (pt)
• Quechua: qhuruy
• Romagnol: decapitêr
• Romanian: decapita (ro)
• Russian: обезгла́вливать (ru) impf (obezglávlivatʹ), обезгла́вить (ru) pf (obezglávitʹ), отруба́ть го́лову impf (otrubátʹ gólovu), отруби́ть го́лову pf (otrubítʹ gólovu)
• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: sťať pf, stínať impf
• Slovene: obglaviti (sl)
• Spanish: descabezar (es)
• Swedish: halshugga (sv), dekapitera (sv)
• Tagalog: pugutan
• Tamil: தலை துண்டி (talai tuṇṭi), கவர் (ta) (kavar), தலை கொய் (talai koy)
• Thai: ตัดศีรษะ (dtàt sǐi-sà)
• Turkish: boynunu vurmak (tr), (colloquial) kafasını uçurmak (tr), (colloquial) kellesini uçurmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: обезголо́влювати impf (obezholóvljuvaty), обезголо́вити pf (obezholóvyty), обезгла́влювати impf (obezhlávljuvaty), обезгла́вити pf (obezhlávyty)
• Urdu: سرقلم کرنا (sar qalam karna)
• Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: chặt đầu, chém đầu
• Welsh: torfynyglu