serial killer

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪəɹɪəl ˌkɪlə/, [ˈsɪə̯ɹɪə̯ɫ ˌkʰɪlə]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪəɹiəl ˌkɪlɚ/, [ˈsɪ(ə̯)ɹiə̯ɫ ˌkʰɪɫɚ]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (African-American Vernacular) IPA^(key): [ˈsiɹiə̯ɫ ˌkʰiə̯ɫɚ]
• (Caribbean) IPA^(key): /ˈseːɹial ˌkɪla/
• Hyphenation: Ser‧i‧al kil‧ler
• Rhymes: -ɪlə

Noun

serial killer (plural serial killers)

1. (criminology) An individual who murders three or more people, with the killings taking place over a period of more than one month in three or more separate events.
   • 2025 October 27, Dalia Faheid, “Bodies keep being recovered from the bayous around Houston. Why officials are convinced it’s not the work of a serial killer”, in CNN‎^[1], archived from the original on 28 October 2025:

     “It’s easier to sort of attribute these deaths to a boogeyman serial killer as opposed to confronting the real possible reasons that these deaths are happening,” she said, pointing to mental health, substance abuse and housing issues.

Derived terms

• serial kill
• serial killer glasses
• serial killer van

See also

• mass murderer

Translations

person who commits multiple murders

• Afrikaans: reeksmoordenaar
• Albanian: vrasësi serik m
• Arabic: قَاتِل مُتَسَلْسِل m (qātil mutasalsil), قَاتِلَة مُتَسَلْسِلَة f (qātila mutasalsila)
• Armenian: սերիական մարդասպան (seriakan mardaspan)
• Asturian: asesín en serie m, asesín serial m
• Azerbaijani: seriyalı qatil
• Basque: serieko hiltzaile
• Belarusian: серы́йны забо́йца m (sjerýjny zabójca), серы́йная забо́йца f (sjerýjnaja zabójca), сэры́йны забо́йца m (serýjny zabójca), сэры́йная забо́йца f (serýjnaja zabójca)
• Bulgarian: сери́ен уби́ец m (seríen ubíec), сери́йна уби́йца f (seríjna ubíjca)
• Catalan: assassí en sèrie m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 連環殺手 / 连环杀手 (lin⁴ waan⁴ saat³ sau²)

  Mandarin: 連環殺手 / 连环杀手 (liánhuán shāshǒu)

• Czech: sériový vrah m, sériová vražedkyně f
• Danish: seriemorder (da) c
• Dutch: seriemoordenaar (nl) m, seriemoordenaarster f
• Esperanto: seria murdisto
• Estonian: sarimõrvar
• Finnish: sarjamurhaaja (fi)
• French: tueur en série (fr) m, tueuse en série (fr) f
• Frisian:

  West Frisian: searjemoardner c

• Galician: asasino en serie m, asasina en serie f
• Georgian: სერიული მკვლელი (seriuli mḳvleli)
• German: Serienmörder (de) m, Serienmörderin (de) f, Serienkiller (de) m, Serienkillerin (de) f
• Greek: σίριαλ κίλερ n (sírial kíler)
• Hebrew: רוֹצֵחַ סִדְרָתִי m (rotséakh sidratí)
• Hindi: सिलसिलेवार क़ातिल (silsilevār qātil), सिलसिलेवार हत्यारा (silsilevār hatyārā)
• Hungarian: sorozatgyilkos (hu)
• Icelandic: raðmorðingi m
• Indonesian: pembunuh berantai
• Inupiaq: iñuaqtuqti
• Italian: assassino seriale m, assassina seriale f, serial killer (it) m or f, omicida seriale m, pluriomicida (it) m or f, pluriassassino m
• Japanese: シリアルキラー (shiriaru kirā), 連続殺人犯 (れんぞくさつじんはん, renzoku satsujinhan)
• Kazakh: сериялық өлтіруші (seriälyq öltıruşı)
• Korean: 연쇄살인범(連鎖殺人犯) (yeonswaesarinbeom), 련쇄살인범(連鎖殺人犯) (ryeonswaesarinbeom) (North Korea)
• Kyrgyz: сериялык өлтүргүч (seriyalık öltürgüc)
• Latvian: sērijveida slepkava m
• Lithuanian: serijinis žudikas m
• Luxembourgish: Seriemäerder m
• Macedonian: сериски убиец m (seriski ubiec)
• Malay: pembunuh bersiri
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: цуврал алуурчин (cuvral aluurčin)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: seriemorder m

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: قاتِلِ زَنْجیرِه‌ای (ġâtel-e zanjire-i)

• Polish: seryjny morderca (pl) m, seryjna morderczyni f
• Portuguese: assassino em série (pt) m, assassina em série (pt) f, serial killer (pt) m or f
• Romanian: asasin în serie m, ucigaș în serie m
• Russian: сери́йный уби́йца (ru) m (seríjnyj ubíjca), сери́йная уби́йца f (seríjnaja ubíjca)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: серијски убица m, серијски убојица m, серијска убојица f

  Latin: serijski ubica m, serijski ubojica m, serijska ubojica f

• Slovak: sériový vrah m, sériová vrahyňa f
• Slovene: serijski morilec m, serijska morilka f
• Spanish: asesino en serie m, asesina en serie f, asesino serial m
• Swedish: seriemördare (sv) c
• Tajik: қотили силсилавӣ (qotil-i silsilavi)
• Thai: ฆาตกรต่อเนื่อง (th) (kâat-dtà-gɔɔn-dtɔ̀ɔ-nʉ̂ʉang)
• Turkish: seri katil
• Ukrainian: сері́йний уби́вця m (seríjnyj ubývcja), сері́йна вби́вця f (seríjna vbývcja)
• Urdu: سِلْسِلَہ وار قاتِل m (silsila vār qātil)
• Uzbek: serial qotil
• Vietnamese: sát nhân hàng loạt
• Welsh: llofrudd cyfresol m

Further reading

• serial killer on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English serial killer. Compare assassino seriale, which is a calque.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛ.rjal ˈkil.ler/, /ˈsi.rjal ˈkil.ler/
• Hyphenation: sè‧rial‧kìl‧ler

Noun

serial killer m or f by sense (invariable)

1. serial killer

   Synonym: assassino seriale

   Hypernym: pluriomicida

Related terms

• killer

Further reading

• serial killer on the Italian Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^it

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English serial killer.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈse.ɾi.aw ˈki.leʁ/ [ˈse.ɾɪ.aʊ̯ ˈki.leh], (faster pronunciation) /ˈse.ɾjaw ˈki.leʁ/ [ˈse.ɾjaʊ̯ ˈki.leh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈse.ɾi.aw ˈki.leʁ/ [ˈse.ɾɪ.aʊ̯ ˈki.leh], (faster pronunciation) /ˈse.ɾjaw ˈki.leʁ/ [ˈse.ɾjaʊ̯ ˈki.leh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈse.ɾi.aw ˈki.leɾ/ [ˈse.ɾɪ.aʊ̯ ˈki.leɾ], (faster pronunciation) /ˈse.ɾjaw ˈki.leɾ/ [ˈse.ɾjaʊ̯ ˈki.leɾ]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈse.ɾi.aw ˈki.leʁ/ [ˈse.ɾɪ.aʊ̯ ˈki.leχ], (faster pronunciation) /ˈse.ɾjaw ˈki.leʁ/ [ˈse.ɾjaʊ̯ ˈki.leχ]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /ˈse.ɾi.aw ˈki.leɻ/ [ˈse.ɾɪ.aʊ̯ ˈki.leɻ], (faster pronunciation) /ˈse.ɾjaw ˈki.leɻ/ [ˈse.ɾjaʊ̯ ˈki.leɻ]

Noun

serial killer m or f by sense (plural serial killers)

1. serial killer (person who commits multiple murders)

   Synonym: assassino em série