murder

pronunciation

How to pronounce murder in British English: UK [ˈmɜːdə(r)] word uk audio image

How to pronounce murder in American English: US [ˈmɜːrdər] word us audio image

Noun:

unlawful premeditated killing of a human being by a human being
Verb:

kill intentionally and with premeditation
alter so as to make unrecognizable

Word Origin

murder: murder: [OE] The ultimate source of murder is the Indo-European base *mor-, *mr- ‘die’ (source also of English mortal). Its extension *mrt- produced a prehistoric Germanic *mortam (source of German, Swedish, and Danish mord and Dutch moord ‘murder’) and *murthram, from which comes English murder.=> mortal

murder (n.): c. 1300, murdre, from Old English morðor (plural morþras) "secret killing of a person, unlawful killing," also "mortal sin, crime; punishment, torment, misery," from Proto-Germanic *murthra- (cognates: Goth maurþr, and, from a variant form of the same root, Old Saxon morth, Old Frisian morth, Old Norse morð, Middle Dutch moort, Dutch moord, German Mord "murder"), from PIE *mrtro-, from root *mer- "to die" (see mortal (adj.)). The spelling with -d- probably reflects influence of Anglo-French murdre, from Old French mordre, from Medieval Latin murdrum, from the Germanic root. Viking custom, typical of Germanic, distinguished morð (Old Norse) "secret slaughter," from vig (Old Norse) "slaying." The former involved concealment, or slaying a man by night or when asleep, and was a heinous crime. The latter was not a disgrace, if the killer acknowledged his deed, but he was subject to vengeance or demand for compensation.Mordre wol out that se we day by day. [Chaucer, "Nun's Priest's Tale," c. 1386]Weakened sense of "very unpleasant situation" is from 1878.

murder (v.): Old English myrðrian, from Proto-Germanic *murthjan (cognates: Old High German murdran, German mördren, Gothic maurþjan; see murder (n.)). Related: Murdered; murdering.

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