Charnage

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic word for the slaughter of many people, or the heaps of mangled flesh left behind after a massacre
2. Old-fashioned term describing a scene of bloodshed in which many corpses lie scattered and butchered
3. A dated noun for widespread killing and the mutilated remains of the dead strewn across a battlefield

Etymology: "Charnage" is a rare spelling of "carnage," and both trace back to the Latin "caro," meaning "flesh." The word reached English from French, where the "ch-" spelling reflected the Old French word "char," also meaning flesh, from the same Latin source. English also has "charnel," which comes from the same root and refers to flesh or to places where bodies were kept. The sense of slaughter developed from the older idea of flesh. Words built on "caro" tended to refer to the body as meat, and that meaning narrowed over time to the mass killing of people in battle.

Synonyms: charnel