Filicide

//ˈfɪ.lɪ.sʌɪd// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The killing of one's own child. countable, uncountable

    "it began by violating nature, and ends in filicide. (I, v)"

  2. 2
    the murder of your own son or daughter wordnet
  3. 3
    A person who kills his or her own child. countable, uncountable

    "Ned is running, panicked, […] running for the cold hard road and the sanctuary of the Brunch farm like a filicide caught in the act."

  4. 4
    a parent who murders their own son or daughter wordnet

Example

More examples

"He committed filicide to end his daughter's suffering."

Etymology

From Latin fīlius (“son”), fīlia (“daughter”) + -cide.

Related phrases

altruistic filicidealtruistic filicide

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.