suicide

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsuː.ɪ.saɪd/, /ˈsjuː.ɪ.saɪd/^[1]

Etymology

The act is from New Latin suīcidium,^[2][3][4] and the person from New Latin suīcīda,^[3][5][4] both from Latin suī (“of oneself”), the genitive of sē “self”,^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *s(w)e- (“self”),^[2][6] with -cīdium “a killing” or -cīda “killer”, from caedere (“to kill”).^[2][7] It was probably an English coinage,^[2] and Merriam-Webster takes it as Latin suī with English -cide.^[8] Latin purists disliked the word because it might seem to come from sūs “sow” as much as from suī.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The deliberate killing of oneself: 1643 in Merriam-Webster,^[9] 1651 in Barnhart and the OED,^[3][10] the 1650s in Etymonline.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Earlier English had self-homicide (1610s), and Old English self-cwala “self-killer”;^[2] the Anglo-Latin term for one who killed himself was felo-de-se.^[2] The person who commits suicide is a suicide from 1728,^[3][2][10] and the figurative “ruin of one's own interests” from 1793.^[10] Johnson did not include it in 1755.^[10] In England suicide was legally a crime if the person was of age and sane.^[2] The adjectival use, as in suicide note and suicide pact, is from 1773,^[10][9] and suicidal from the 18th century.^[5] The verb, “to commit suicide”, is from 1841.^[10][9]

Timeline

• 1643 – self-killing.^[9]
• 1728 – a person who kills himself.^[3][2]
• 1773 – suicide note.^[10][9]
• 1793 – figuratively, self-ruin.^[10]
• 1841 – verb.^[10][9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act of intentionally killing oneself.
2. The ruin of one's own interests: political suicide.
3. A person who commits suicide.

Adjective

1. Of or carrying out a deliberately fatal attack: a suicide bomber.

Verb

1. To commit suicide.

Related words

• filicide
• fratricide
• herbicide
• infanticide
• insecticide
• matricide
• parricide
• patricide
• pesticide
• regicide
• sororicide
• suicidal
• homicide
• -cide
• self

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 h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press