genocide

See also: génocide

English

Etymology

The word "genocide" was coined in 1943 by Polish-Jewish legal scholar Raphael Lemkin (1900–1959) referring to the Armenian Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust.[1][2][3][4] From the stem of Ancient Greek γένος (génos, race, kind) or Latin gēns (tribe, clan) (as in genus), + -cide (killing, killer). Compare genticide.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛnəsaɪd/

Noun

genocide (countable and uncountable, plural genocides)

  1. The systematic killing of substantial numbers of people on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, political beliefs, social status, or other particularities.
    • November 1944 Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation - Analysis of Government - Proposals for Redress - chapter 9 - page 79
      For the German occupying authorities war thus appears to offer the most appropriate occasion for carrying out their policy of genocide.
    • year?
      A genocide will always be followed by the denial that it ever happened.
  2. (by extension) The systematic suppression of ideas on the basis of cultural or ethnic origin; culturicide.
    • 1986, James Stuart Olson, Raymond Wilson, Native Americans in the Twentieth Century, →ISBN:
      Native Americans in the twentieth century are no longer a "vanishing race" or a silent minority. They have survived centuries of cultural genocide inflicted on them by non-Native Americans— both the well-meaning and the self-seeking— []
  3. (video games, roguelikes) The elimination of an entire class of monsters by the player.
    • 2000, "Kimmo Kasila", Arch lich at Minetown bones, Help! (on newsgroup rec.games.roguelike.nethack)
      I used genocide in my first ascension, but have been genocideless ever since. Makes the game much more interesting, but then again, if one hasn't ascended yet, it will be interesting anyway.

Usage notes

Genocide was coined to mean, and is generally used in law to mean, the destruction of an ethnic group qua group, whether killing of all members of the group or other means, such as dispersing the group. In common usage, “genocide” is often used to mean “systematic mass killing”, whether or not the purpose is the destruction of a group or something else, such as terrorizing the group or killing a population without regard to group membership (democide).

Synonyms

  • (systematic killing of substantial numbers of people): genticide

Derived terms

<a class='CategoryTreeLabel CategoryTreeLabelNs14 CategoryTreeLabelCategory' href='/wiki/Category:English_words_suffixed_with_-cide' title='Category:English words suffixed with -cide'>English words suffixed with -cide</a>

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

See also

Verb

genocide (third-person singular simple present genocides, present participle genociding, simple past and past participle genocided)

  1. (transitive) To commit genocide (against); to eliminate (a group of people) completely.

Derived terms

References

  1. Q&A: Armenian genocide dispute. BBC. 2 June 2016
  2. Sylvia Angelique Alajaji: Music and the Armenian Diaspora: Searching for Home in Exile. Indiana University Press (September 7, 2015)
  3. Daniel Levy, The Holocaust and Memory in the Global Age (2006, ISBN 1592132766, page 91: "In 1943, Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jew, coined the term "genocide" for the deliberate extermination of a people. Without a doubt, the Holocaust provided the occasion for Lemkin's attempts to warn the world of the systematic annihilation of particular groups, [] "
  4. Hyde, Jennifer (2 December, 2008). "Polish Jew gave his life defining, fighting genocide". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/13/sbm.lemkin.profile/

Anagrams


Dutch

Etymology

Equivalent to geno + -cide.

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Noun

genocide f (plural genocides, diminutive genocidetje n)

  1. genocide

Synonyms

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