Parenticide

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /pəˈɹɛn.təˌsaɪd/

Definitions

1. The act of killing one's parent or parents
2. The act of deliberately causing the death of a parent or both parents
3. The crime or act involving the intentional ending of a mother's or father's life

Etymology: "Parenticide" is a transparent compound: "parent" joined to the combining form "-cide," from Latin "caedere," meaning "to cut down" or "to kill." The same suffix gives us "homicide" (killing a human), "regicide" (killing a king) and "suicide," so the pattern is one readers can decode at a glance. The word's interest lies in what it forces English to do. Killing a parent was a crime long before English had a dedicated term for it, and the compound's logic is simple enough that its formation needed no famous coiner or dramatic event. Its meaning is the plain one given above: the deliberate killing of a parent or of both parents, which is why the word covers patricide and matricide in a single term.