femicide

English

Alternative forms

• feminicide

Etymology

From Latin fēm- +‎ -icide, derived from fēmina (“woman”) after the model of homicide, genocide, etc.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɛ.məˌsaɪd/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɛ.mɪˌsaɪd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛməsaɪd, -ɛmɪsaɪd
• Hyphenation: fem‧i‧cide

Noun

femicide (countable and uncountable, plural femicides)

1. The killing of a woman or girl, originally (figurative) with reference to loss of virtue but now usually (law) specifically because of their gender and especially such a killing by a man motivated by misogyny. [1801]
   • 1801, John Corry, A Satirical View of London, pages 59-60:

     One of the most pernicious nuisances of London is the insistence of voluptuaries, who, relying on the respectability of their rank, and the weight of their purse, endevour in open day to seduce young women who attract their attention in the public streets!... This species of delinquency may be denominated femicide; for the monster who betrays a credulous virgin, and consigns her to infamy, is in reality a most relentless murderer!

   • 2020 March 7, Tom Phillips, “'This is our feminist spring': millions of Mexican women prepare to strike over femicides”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     But when Mexican feminists hit the streets on Valentine’s Day to denounce their country’s worsening femicide crisis, she saw a chance to ensure her mother’s life and death were remembered.

   • 2025 May 14, “Mexican beauty influencer shot dead during TikTok live stream”, in The Guardian‎^[2], sourced from Reuters, →ISSN:

     Mexico is tied with Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia as the countries with the fourth-highest rates of femicide in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the latest data from the United Nations economic commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, at 1.3 such deaths for every 100,000 women in 2023.

2. (rare) A person who commits such an act. [1828]

Synonyms

• (figurative): See corruption (act) and corrupter (person)
• (literal): womanslaughter, gynocide (act) and see Thesaurus:killer (person)

Hyponyms

• transfemicide

Translations

killing of women

• Catalan: feminicidi (ca) m, femicidi m
• Danish: femicide
• Dutch: vrouwenmoord f, feminicide f, gynocide f, femicide (nl) f
• Finnish: naismurha
• French: féminicide (fr) m, fémicide m, gynocide (fr) m
• Galician: feminicidio m, femicidio m
• Georgian: ფემიციდი (pemicidi)
• German: Femizid (de) m or n, Frauenmord (de) m
• Greek: γυναικοκτονία (el) f (gynaikoktonía)
• Italian: femminicidio (it) m, femmicidio m,
• Japanese: フェミサイド (femisaido), フェミニサイド (feminisaido)
• Korean: 여성살해 (yeoseongsalhae), 녀성살해 (nyeoseongsalhae) (North Korea)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: jinkujî (ku) f

• Polish: kobietobójstwo n
• Portuguese: feminicídio (pt) m, femicídio m
• Russian: фемици́д (ru) m (femicíd), феминици́д m (feminicíd)
• Spanish: femicidio (es) m, feminicidio (es) m
• Swedish: kvinnomord (sv) n

References

• “femicide, n1.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “femicide, n2.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Dutch

Noun

femicide f (plural femicides, diminutive femicidetje n)

1. femicide

   Synonyms: vrouwenmoord, feminicide, gynocide