suicide

English Online Dictionary. What means suicide‎? What does suicide mean?

English

Etymology

First attested in Thomas Browne's Religio Medici (1643) in sense 1, ostensibly from New Latin suīcīdium, from suī (genitive reflexive pronoun) +‎ -cīdium (“act of killing or murder”), but often believed to have originated in English before entering Latin. Displaced native Middle English seolf-cwale from Old English selfcwalu (literally “self-slaughter”), after which suicide may have been modelled, or calqued (compare manuscript). Sense 3 is perhaps by analogy with words like homicide, patricide (see -cide), or, although unlikely, from Medieval Latin suīcīda; see the Etymology section at suīcīdium.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈs(j)uːɪˌsaɪd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsuɪˌsaɪd/
• Rhymes: -uːɪsaɪd
• Hyphenation: su‧i‧cide

Noun

suicide (countable and uncountable, plural suicides)

2. (uncountable) The act of intentionally killing oneself.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:suicide

   Hypernyms: see Thesaurus:killing, Thesaurus:death
3. (countable) A particular instance of a person intentionally killing oneself, or of multiple people doing so.
5. (countable) A person who has intentionally killed themself.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:suicidee
6. (figuratively) An action that could cause the literal or figurative death of a person or organization, although death is not the aim of the action.

   political suicide
7. (countable, US, slang) A beverage combining all available flavors at a soda fountain.

   Synonyms: graveyard, swamp water
8. A diabolo trick where one of the sticks is released and allowed to rotate 360° round the diabolo until it is caught by the hand that released it.
9. (countable) A run comprising a series of sprints of increasing lengths, each followed immediately by a return to the start, with no pause between one sprint and the next.

10. A children's game of throwing a ball against a wall and at other players, who are eliminated by being struck.
11. (attributive) Pertaining to a suicide bombing.

Usage notes

• See usage note at commit suicide.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• (children's game): dodgeball, tag

Verb

suicide (third-person singular simple present suicides, present participle suiciding, simple past and past participle suicided)

1. (intransitive) To intentionally kill oneself.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:commit suicide
3. (transitive) To kill (someone) and make their death appear to have been a suicide rather than a homicide (now especially as part of a conspiracy).
4. To self-destruct.

Translations

See also

• hara-kiri
• kamikaze
• seppuku

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2025), “suicide”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɥi.sid/, /sy.sid/
• Homophones: suicident, suicides

Etymology 1

Borrowed from New Latin suīcīdium, from suī (“oneself”) and -cīdium (“-cide”).

Noun

suicide m (plural suicides)

1. suicide

Derived terms

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

suicide

1. inflection of suicider:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “suicide”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /su.iˈt͡ʃi.de/, /swiˈt͡ʃi.de/
• Rhymes: -ide
• Hyphenation: su‧i‧cì‧de, sui‧cì‧de

Adjective

suicide f pl

1. feminine plural of suicida

Noun

suicide f pl

1. plural of suicida

References

Anagrams

• sudicie

Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from English suicide.

Noun

suicide m (plural suicides)

1. (Jersey) suicide

Portuguese

Verb

suicide

1. inflection of suicidar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Verb

suicide

1. inflection of suicidar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative