manslaughter

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English manslaughter, also manslaghter,^[2][3] formed from English man + slaughter.^{[4][5][6][7][2]} It gradually replaced the older manslaught,^[5][4] from Old English manslæht in Anglian and manslieht in West Saxon, the second element being slæht (“act of killing”), related to slay.^[5] That older noun has cognates in Old Frisian mannslachta, Middle Dutch manslacht, Old Saxon manslahta and Old High German manslahta.^[4] The second element of the new compound is of Scandinavian origin, akin to Old Norse slátr (“butcher-meat”).^[8][5] Partridge notes that it is the English counterpart of homicide.^[9][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a legal term, a homicide less criminal than murder: before 1325, in the Statutes of the Realm.^[4] Etymonline and the MED give the general sense "the act, crime or sin of killing another human being", from the early 14th century.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word was used of any killing of a person, in battle or not, and of murder;^[5][2] Chaucer used it nine times, and Gower twice.^[3] The general sense "homicide, murder" lasted until the late 17th century,^[4][7] and the slaughter of people in war until the 19th.^[4] Johnson (1755) still defined it first as "murder; destruction of the human species".^[10] In law it came to be distinguished from murder, as an unlawful killing without malice, express or implied.^[5][11] Dickens used it as a verb in 1843.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1325 – legal sense, homicide of a lower degree than murder.^[4]
• c. 1390 – homicide, murder in general (Chaucer, Parson's Tale; obsolete by 1687).^[4]
• before 1400 – slaughter of people, especially in battle.^[4]
• 1843 – verb, to kill a person (Dickens).^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) The unlawful killing of a person without malice aforethought, a crime less grave than murder: The driver was convicted of manslaughter.^{[12][6][11][4]}
2. Loosely, the killing of a human being by another.^[12][6]
3. (obsolete) Homicide or murder in general.^[4][7]

Word family

• involuntary manslaughter

Related words

• self-slaughter
• manslaught
• slaughter
• slay
• man
• homicide
• murder

Usage notes

In some jurisdictions the offence is called culpable homicide.^[11] Etymologically the word matches homicide, but in law it is set apart from murder by the absence of malice.^[5][11]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins