carnífice

Portuguese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker(H)-

Proto-Indo-European *-ō

Proto-Indo-European *(s)kér(H)ō

Proto-Italic *karō

Latin carō

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der.

Proto-Italic *-faks

Latin -fex

Latin carnificemlbor.

Portuguese carnífice

Learned borrowing from Latin carnificem (“butcher”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kaʁˈni.fi.si/ [kaɦˈni.fi.si]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kaʁˈni.fi.si/ [kaɦˈni.fi.si]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /kaɾˈni.fi.si/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /kaʁˈni.fi.si/
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /kaɻˈni.fi.si/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /kaʁˈni.fi.se/ [kaɦˈni.fi.se]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɐɾˈni.fi.sɨ/

• Hyphenation: car‧ní‧fi‧ce

Noun

carnífice m or f by sense (plural carnífices)

1. (archaic) executioner (person who carries out a capital punishment)

   Synonyms: carrasco, algoz, verdugo

2. (literary) a cruel and violent person

   Synonym: carrasco

Related terms

• carnificina

Further reading

• “carnífice”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “carnífice”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker(H)-

Proto-Indo-European *-ō

Proto-Indo-European *(s)kér(H)ō

Proto-Italic *karō

Latin carō

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der.

Proto-Italic *-faks

Latin -fex

Latin carnificembor.

Spanish carnífice

Borrowed from Latin carnificem (“butcher”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaɾˈnifiθe/ [kaɾˈni.fi.θe] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /kaɾˈnifise/ [kaɾˈni.fi.se] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -ifiθe (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• Rhymes: -ifise (Latin America, Philippines)
• Syllabification: car‧ní‧fi‧ce

Noun

carnífice m (plural carnífices)

1. (obsolete) executioner

   Synonym: verdugo

Further reading

• “carnífice”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025