Etymologically
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massacre

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 13:37. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈmæs.ə.kə/, US /ˈmæs.ə.kɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French massacre (“wholesale slaughter, carnage”),[2][3][4][5] related to Old French macecre (“slaughterhouse, butcher's shop”),[2][3][6][5] and of unknown or uncertain origin;[2][3][4][7] Barnhart and Etymonline compare Latin macellum (“provisions store, butcher's shop”).[2][3] The verb is from massacrer (“to slaughter”).[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun: about 1578 in Merriam-Webster, 1586 in Barnhart and the OED; the verb, to slaughter in large numbers, 1581.[5][2][8]

Semantic evolution

Historic massacres such as that of St Bartholomew are named from about 1592,[8] and figurative uses are from 1595.[8] In the 17th and 18th centuries the verb could mean merely to murder cruelly, without reference to numbers,[3][8] and the noun a cruel murder (1589).[8] In heraldry a massacre is a pair of antlers attached to part of the skull (1722).[8] In sport, a one-sided defeat is from 1940.[8][9]

Timeline

  • c. 1578 – a massacre.[5]
  • 1581 – to massacre.[2][8]
  • c. 1592 – historic massacres.[8]
  • 1722 – massacre (heraldry).[8]
  • 1940 – a crushing defeat (sport).[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The indiscriminate and cruel killing of many people.
  2. The slaughter of a large number of animals.
  3. (informal) A crushing defeat, as in sport.

Verb

  1. To kill indiscriminately and in large numbers; to slaughter.
  2. (informal) To defeat overwhelmingly.

Word family

  • massacrer
  • unmassacred

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin