fratricide
noun/ˈfrætrɪsaɪd/
/ˈfrætrɪsaɪd/
(formal)- [uncountable, countable] the crime of killing your brother or sister; a person who is guilty of this crime compare matricide, parricide, patricideTopics Crime and punishmentc2
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- [uncountable, countable] the crime of killing people of your own country or group; a person who is guilty of this crimeTopics Crime and punishmentc2
- [uncountable] (especially North American English) the act of killing by accident your own forces in war synonym friendly fire
Word Originlate 15th cent. (denoting a person who kills their brother or sister, derived from Latin fratricida): the primary current sense comes via French from late Latin fratricidium, from frater ‘brother’ + -cidium, from caedere ‘kill’.
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