List of types of killing

In the English language, terms for types of killing often end in the suffix -cide.

Killing of self

• Suicide, intentionally causing one's own death.
  • Altruistic suicide, suicide for the benefit of others.
  • Autocide, suicide by automobile collision.
  • Medicide, a suicide accomplished with the aid of a physician.
  • Murder-suicide, a suicide committed immediately after one or more murders.
  • Self-immolation, suicide by fire, often as a form of protest.
  • Suicide by cop, acting in a threatening manner so as to provoke a lethal response from law enforcement.

Killing of other people

All of these are considered types of homicide.

Killing of family

• Avunculicide – the act of killing an uncle (Latin : avunculus "(maternal) uncle").
• Familicide – is a multiple-victim homicide where a killer's spouse and children are slain (Latin : familia "family").
• Filicide – the act of a parent killing their child (Latin : filius "son" and Latin : filia "daughter").
• Fratricide – the act of killing a brother (Latin : frater "brother"); also, in military context, death by friendly fire.
• Honour killing – the act of murdering a family member perceived to have brought disgrace to the family.
• Infanticide – the act of killing a child within the first year of their life.
• Mariticide – the act of killing one's husband (Latin : maritus "husband").
• Matricide – the act of killing one's mother (Latin : mater "mother").
• Neonaticide – the act of killing an infant within the first twenty-four hours or month (varies by individual and jurisdiction) of its life.
• Nepoticide – the act of killing one's nephew.
• Parricide or parenticide – the killing of one's mother, father, or other close relative.
• Patricide – the act of killing of one's father. (Latin : pater "father").
• Senicide – the killing of one's elderly family members. (Latin : senex "old man").
• Siblicide – the killing of an infant individual by their close relatives (full or half siblings).
• Sororicide – the act of killing one's sister (Latin : soror "sister").
• Uxoricide – the act of killing one's wife (Latin : uxor "wife").

Killing of others

• Amicicide – the act of killing a friend (Latin : amicus "friend").
• Androcide – the systematic killing of men.
• Assassination – the act of killing a prominent person for either political, religious, or monetary reasons.
• Capital punishment – the judicial killing of a human being for crimes.
• Casualty – death (or injury) in wartime.
• Collateral damage – Incidental killing of persons during a military attack that were not the object of attack.
• Democide or populicide – the murder of any person or people by a government.
• Extrajudicial killing – killing by government forces without due process. See also Targeted killing.
• Euthanasia or mercy killing – the killing of any being with compassionate reasoning; e.g., significant injury or disease.
• Familiaricide in commutatione eius possessio – the act of killing a family for their property and/or possessions (from Latin : familiaris "of a household"; in commutatione eius "in exchange for"; and possessio "a possession or property").
• Femicide, gynecide, gynaecide, or gynocide – the systematic killing of women.
• Feticide – the killing of an embryo or fetus.
• Fragging – the act of killing a fellow soldier.
• Gendercide – the systematic killing of members of a specific sex or gender.
• Geronticide – the abandonment of the elderly to die, die by suicide or be killed.
• Genocide – the systematic extermination of an entire national, racial, religious, or ethnic group.
• Homicide – the act of killing of a person (Latin : homo "man").
• Justifiable homicide – a defense to culpable homicide (criminal or negligent homicide).
• Human sacrifice – the killing of a human for sacrificial, often religious, reasons.
• Lynching - the public killing of an individual without due process.
• Massacre, mass murder or spree killing – the killing of many people.
• Murder – the malicious and unlawful killing of a human by another human.
• Manslaughter - murder, but under legally mitigating circumstances.
• Omnicide – the act of killing all humans, to create intentional extinction of the human species (Latin : omni "all, everyone").
• Pedocide – the act of killing children.
• Serial killer - a person who murders three or more people, with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separate events.
• Spree killer - someone who commits a criminal act that involves two or more murders in a short time, often in multiple locations.
• Contract killing - a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people.
• Targeted killing – a form of assassination which is carried out by governments against their perceived enemies. See also Extrajudicial killing.
• Xenocide – the genocide of an entire alien species. Often used in science fiction, one famous example being the novel Xenocide by Orson Scott Card.

Killing of superiors

• Deicide – killing a god, divine being, or deity.
• Eliticide – killing the elites of a population.
• Papicide – killing of a pope (Ancient Greek: πάππας (páppas) "father"). ^[1]
• Regicide – killing a ruler, a King/Queen (Latin : rex, gen. regis "king").
• Tyrannicide – killing a tyrant.
• Magnicide – killing a major political figure. ^[2]

Killing of animals, disease, and pests

• Algaecide – a chemical agent that kills algae.
• Acaricide – a chemical agent that kills mites.
• Avicide – a chemical agent that kills birds.
• Bactericide – a chemical agent that kills bacteria.
• Biocide – a chemical agent that kills a broad spectrum of living organisms.
• Fungicide – chemical agents or biological organisms used to kill or inhibit fungi or fungal spores.
• Germicide – an agent that kills germs, especially pathogenic microorganisms; a disinfectant.
• Herbicide – an agent that kills unwanted plants, a weed killer.
• Insecticide – an agent that kills unwanted insects.
• Larvicide (also larvacide) – an insecticide targeted against the larval life stage of an insect.
• Microbicide – an agent used to kill or reduce the infectiousness of microorganisms.
• Miticide – a chemical to kill mites.
• Nemacide (also nematicide, nematocide) – a chemical to eradicate or kill nematodes.
• Parasiticide – a general term to describe an agent used to destroy parasites.
• Pediculicide – an agent that kills head lice.
• Pesticide – a general term to describe an agent used to destroy or repel a pest.
• Rodenticide - an agent that kills rodents (especially rats and mice).
• Scabicide – a chemical agent for killing scabies.
• Spermicide – a contraceptive agent to render sperm inert and prevent fertilization of an egg.
• Teniacide (also taeniacide, tenicide) – a chemical agent that kills tape worms.
• Theriocide – the act of killing an animal by a human (Ancient Greek: therion "wild animal, beast").
• Vermicide – an agent used to kill parasitic intestinal worms.
• Virucide (also viricide) – an agent capable of destroying or inhibiting viruses.
• Vulpicide (also vulpecide) – the killing of a fox by methods other than by hunting it with hounds.

Killing of intangibles or inanimates

• Domicide – the systematic destruction of housing
• Ecocide – the destruction of the natural environment by such activity as war, overexploitation of resources, or pollution.
• Famacide, defamation, or slander – the killing of another's reputation.
• Linguicide – intentionally causing the death of a language.
• Epistemicide – the systematic extermination of an entire knowledge system or intellectual heritage of a group, society or people.
• Mundicide – the genocide of an entire planet or similar celestial object. Various degrees of mundicide occur throughout the universe, caused by such things as supernovas, or in the realm of science-fiction; Dark forest hypothesis . An idea popularized by Chinese author, Cixin Liu
• Urbicide – the destruction of a city or the stifling of urbanisation (urbs is Latin for "city").

See also

• Letting die
• Manner of death, a classification made after autopsy

References

1. https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsEurope/ItalyPopes.htm Papicide is used to describe Lord Matteo of Milan's charge of the attempted assassination of Pope John XXII
2. "magnicide", Wiktionary, the free dictionary, 2023-06-13, retrieved 2024-02-07