murderer

English

Alternative forms

• murtherer (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English murderere; equivalent to murder +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɜːdəɹə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɝdɚɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mur‧der‧er

Noun

murderer (plural murderers, feminine murderess)

1. A person who commits murder.
   • 1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC:

     It was two o'clock when she came to herself and called for the police. The murderer was gone long ago; but there lay his victim in the middle of the lane, incredibly mangled. The stick with which the deed had been done, although it was of some rare and very tough and heavy wood, had broken in the middle under the stress of this insensate cruelty

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter II, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     I had never defrauded a man of a farthing, nor called him knave behind his back. But now the last rag that covered my nakedness had been torn from me. I was branded a blackleg, card-sharper, and murderer.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:killer

Coordinate terms

• murderess

Derived terms

• archmurderer
• axe murderer
• axe-murderer
• child murderer
• desk murderer
• mass murderer
• multimurderer
• murderers' row
• Murderers' Row
• nonmurderer
• self-murderer
• serial murderer

 

Related terms

• murder
• murderess

Translations

person who commits murder

• Afrikaans: moordenaar
• Alabama: aatiibi
• Albanian: vrasës (sq) m, vrasëse (sq) f
• Arabic: قَاتِل (ar) m (qātil), قَاتِلَة f (qātila)
• Armenian: մարդասպան (hy) (mardaspan)
• Asturian: asesín m
• Azerbaijani: qatil (az)
• Bashkir: ҡатил (qatil)
• Belarusian: забо́йца (be) m or f (zabójca)
• Bengali: খুনী (bn) (khuni), কাতেল (qatel)
• Breton: lazher (br) m
• Bulgarian: уби́ец (bg) m (ubíec), уби́йца f (ubíjca)
• Burmese: လူသတ်သမား (lusatsa.ma:)
• Catalan: assassí (ca) m, assassina (ca) f
• Cherokee: ᎠᏓᎯᎯ (adahihi)
• Chickasaw: hattak-abi'
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 兇手／凶手 (hung¹ sau²), 殺人犯／杀人犯 (saat³ jan⁴ faan^6-2), 殺手／杀手 (saat³ sau²)

  Hokkien: 殺手／杀手 (zh-min-nan) (sat-chhiú)

  Mandarin: 兇手／凶手 (zh) (xiōngshǒu), 殺人犯／杀人犯 (zh) (shārénfàn), 殺手／杀手 (zh) (shāshǒu)

• Choctaw: abi
• Crimean Tatar: qatil
• Czech: vrah (cs) m, vražedkyně (cs) f
• Danish: morder (da) c, morderske c (female)
• Dutch: moordenaar (nl) m, moordenaarster f, moordenares (nl) f
• Esperanto: murdinto, murdintino (female)
• Estonian: mõrtsukas
• Finnish: murhaaja (fi)
• French: meurtrier (fr) m, meurtrière (fr) f, assassin (fr) m, assassine (fr) f

  Old French: murtrier m

• Galician: asasino (gl) m, asasina f
• Georgian: მკვლელი (mḳvleli)
• German: Mörder (de) m, Mörderin (de) f
• Greek: δολοφόνος (el) m or f (dolofónos), δολοφόνισσα (el) f (dolofónissa), φονιάς (el) m (foniás), φόνισσα (el) f (fónissa)

  Ancient: φονεύς m (phoneús), φονεύτρια f (phoneútria)

• Gujarati: હત્યારો (hatyāro)
• Hebrew: רוצח \ רוֹצֵחַ (he) m (rotséakh), רוצחת \ רוֹצַחַת f (rotsákhat)
• Hindi: हत्यारा (hi) m (hatyārā), ख़ूनी m (xūnī), क़ातिल m (qātil)
• Hungarian: gyilkos (hu)
• Icelandic: morðingi m
• Indonesian: pembunuh (id)
• Ingrian: murhamees, päänikka
• Italian: assassino (it) m, assassina (it) f
• Japanese: 人殺し (ja) (ひとごろし, hitogoroshi), 殺人者 (ja) (さつじんしゃ, satsujinsha)
• Kalmyk: алач (alaç)
• Kannada: ಕೊಲೆಗಾರ (kn) (kolegāra)
• Kazakh: қанішер (qanışer), қаныпезер (qanypezer)
• Khmer: ឃាតករ (khiət kɑɑ), អ្នកសម្លាប់ (nĕək sɑmlap)
• Korean: 살인자(殺人者) (ko) (sarinja)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: qatil (ku) m, mêrkuj (ku) m, kujer (ku) m

• Kyrgyz: өлтүргүч (ky) (öltürgüc), өлтүрүүчү (ky) (öltürüücü)
• Lao: ຄາດຕະກອນ (khāt ta kǭn)
• Latgalian: slapkauņs m
• Latin: homicīda m or f, occīsor m, occītrīx f, interfector m, interfectrīx f
• Latvian: slepkava m or f
• Lithuanian: žmogžudys m, žmogžudė f
• Luxembourgish: Mäerder m, Mäerderin f
• Macedonian: убиец m (ubiec), катиљ m (katilj) (colloquial)
• Malay: pembunuh (ms)
• Malayalam: കൊലപാതകി (ml) (kolapātaki)
• Maori: kaikōhuru
• Mongolian: алуурчин (mn) (aluurčin)
• Norman: meurtriyi m
• Northern Sami: olmmošgoddi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: morder m, morderske m or f (female), drapsperson m, drapsmann m, drapskvinne m or f (female)

  Nynorsk: mordar m, morderske f, drapsperson m, drapsmann m, drapskvinne f

• Old East Slavic: головьникъ m (golovĭnikŭ)
• Old English: manslaga m, slaga m
• Old Norse: morðari m
• Old Polish: głównik
• Pashto: قاتل (ps) m (qātél), خوني (ps) m or f (xuní)
• Persian: قاتل (fa) (qâtel), آدمکش (fa) (âdamkoš)
• Plautdietsch: Merda m
• Polish: morderca (pl) m, morderczyni (pl) f, zabójca (pl) m, zabójczyni (pl) f
• Portuguese: assassino (pt) m, assassina (pt) f, homicida (pt) m or f
• Romanian: criminal (ro) m (false friend), criminală (ro) f
• Russian: уби́йца (ru) m or f (ubíjca), ки́ллер (ru) m (kíller) (hired), душегу́б (ru) m (dušegúb) (colloquial)
• Sanskrit: घातक (sa) m (ghātaka), ताडक (sa) m (tāḍaka)
• Scottish Gaelic: murtair m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: у̀бица m (Bosnian, Serbian), у̀бојица m (Croatian)

  Roman: ùbica (sh) m (Bosnian, Serbian), ùbojica (sh) m (Croatian)

• Sinhalese: මිනීමරුවා (minīmaruwā)
• Slovak: vrah (sk) m, vrahyňa (sk) f
• Slovene: morilec (sl) m, morilka f
• Spanish: asesino (es) m, asesina (es) f, victimario m, victimaria f, matador (es) m, matadora (es) f
• Swahili: mwuaji class 1/2
• Swedish: mördare (sv) c, mörderska (sv) c (female)
• Tajik: қотил (qotil‍), кушанда (kušanda), одамкуш (odamkuš)
• Tamil: கொலைகாரன் (ta) (kolaikāraṉ)
• Tatar: үтерүче (tt) (üterüçe), катыйль (tt) (qatıyl’)
• Telugu: హంతకుడు (te) (hantakuḍu)
• Thai: ฆาตกร (th) (kâat-dtà-gɔɔn)
• Tocharian B: kauṣenta
• Turkish: katil (tr)
• Turkmen: ganhor
• Ukrainian: вби́вця m or f (vbývcja), уби́вця (uk) m or f (ubývcja), душогу́б m (dušohúb) (colloquial)
• Urdu: قاتل m (qātil), خونی m (xūnī)
• Uyghur: قاتىل (qatil), شۇمبەن (shumben)
• Uzbek: qotil (uz), odamkush (uz)
• Vietnamese: kẻ giết người
• Wiradjuri: baluubuunildaayn
• Yakut: өлөрүөхсүт (ölörüöqsüt)
• Yiddish: מערדער m (merder), רוצח m (rotseyekh), טויטשלאַגער m (toytshlager)
• Zulu: umbulali

Anagrams

• demurrer