Beheaded

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To experience the loss of one's head either through execution or severe injury signifies a tragic circumstance
2. The act of losing one's head implies a state of execution or damage, resulting in severe repercussions for the individual
3. Having the head forcibly removed from the body, usually as a form of execution or fatal injury

Etymology: The verb "behead" is built in a plain, transparent way: the prefix "be-", which in Old English meant "off" or "away," attached to "head." So to behead was literally to take the head off. The Old English form "behēafdian" was already in use, and it passed into Middle English as "beheden" and its variants, which is where the modern verb comes from. The prefix is the interesting part. "Be-" in this sense is an old West Germanic element that shows up in other verbs where it strips something away or applies an action thoroughly, and the same construction appears in German. The Middle High German "behoubeten" is a close relative, built the same way, which shows the formation was shared among the early Germanic languages rather than invented in English. "Beheaded" is simply the past tense and past participle of "behead," so it carries the same literal sense of having had the head removed.

Synonyms: decapitated, executed