slaughter

B2 Topic:Food & Drink

US /ˈslɔtɚ/ UK /ˈslɔːtə/ See IPA manual

Freq #6714

Meanings

1

verb
To kill animals for food.

The farmer slaughtered the pig for the winter.
2

verb
To kill people brutally and in large numbers.

Thousands of civilians were slaughtered during the war.
3

noun
The brutal killing of a large number of people.

The battle turned into a terrible slaughter.
4

noun
The killing of animals for meat.

The animals are sent to a separate building for slaughter.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to kill animals for food. butcher

3 noun · the brutal killing of a... butchery carnage massacre

Word family

Forms slaughteredslaughteringslaughters

Derived forms antislaughtercatslaughterdeerslaughtergodslaughtermanslaughtermisslaughterpreslaughterself-slaughterself-slaughteredselfslaughterslaughterableslaughterbot

Etymology

From Middle English slaughter, from Old Norse *slahtr, later sláttr, from Proto-Germanic *slahtrą, from Proto-Germanic *slahaną. Equivalent to slay + -ter (as in laughter). Eventually derived from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, strike, throw”). Related with Dutch slachten, German schlachten, Finnish lahdata (all “to slaughter”).

slaughter Middle English *slahtr Old Norse *slahtrą Proto-Germanic *slahaną Proto-Germanic *slak- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

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# slaughter

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** verb, noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈslɔtɚ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈslɔːtə/
**Frequency rank:** 6714

## Meanings
1. To kill animals for food.
2. To kill people brutally and in large numbers.
3. The brutal killing of a large number of people.
4. The killing of animals for meat.

## Examples
- The farmer slaughtered the pig for the winter.
- Thousands of civilians were slaughtered during the war.
- The battle turned into a terrible slaughter.
- The animals are sent to a separate building for slaughter.

## Derived Forms
- antislaughter
- catslaughter
- deerslaughter
- godslaughter
- manslaughter
- misslaughter
- preslaughter
- self-slaughter
- self-slaughtered
- selfslaughter
- slaughterable
- slaughterbot

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: slaughter
- Root: *slahtr
- Root: *slahtrą
- Root: *slahaną
- Root: *slak-

## Etymology
From Middle English slaughter, from Old Norse *slahtr, later sláttr, from Proto-Germanic *slahtrą, from Proto-Germanic *slahaną. Equivalent to slay + -ter (as in laughter). Eventually derived from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, strike, throw”). Related with Dutch slachten, German schlachten, Finnish lahdata (all “to slaughter”).

## AI Etymology
Slaughter is from Middle English slaughter, from Old Norse *slahtr, later sláttr, from Proto-Germanic *slahtrą, from Proto-Germanic *slahaną. Equivalent to slay + -ter (as in laughter). Eventually derived from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, strike, throw”). Related with Dutch slachten, German schlachten, Finnish lahdata (all “to slaughter”). Important forms in the word's history include Middle English slaughter, Old Norse *slahtr, Proto-Germanic *slahtrą, Proto-Germanic *slahaną, Proto-Indo-European *slak-. In current use it includes senses such as To kill animals for food and To kill people brutally and in large numbers.

## Topics
- Food & Drink

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slaughter

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