Killing Time

by | May 18, 2021 | General

There’s more to killing than you might think.  Some while ago, I put together a Glossary on the subject (yes, very morbid, I know) aided by some useful pointers at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_types_of_killing

For example, did you know about these:

  • Amicicide– the act of killing a friend. (“Amicus” being Latin for friend)
  • Androcide– the systematic killing of men.
  • Assassination – the murder of a famous or important person, mainly for political or religious reasons.
  • Butchery – the cruel and violent killing of a lot of people.
  • Capital punishment– the judicial killing of a human being for crimes.
  • Casualty (person)– death (or injury) in wartime.
  • Collateral damage– Deaths during wartime due to imprecise or incorrect targeting or friendly fire.
  • Democide– the murder of any person or people by a government.
  • Ecocide– the destruction of the natural environment by such activity as war, over-exploitation of resources, or pollution.
  • Extrajudicial killing– killing by government forces without due process.
  • Euthanasia(also known as “mercy killing”) – the killing of any human being for compassionate reasons, e.g., significant painful illness, injury or disease.
  • Familiaricide in commutatione eius possessio – the act of killing a family for their property and/or possessions (From “familiaris” being Latin for of a household. “in commutatione eius” being Latin for in exchange for, and “possessio” being Latin for a possession or property).
  • Femicide(also gynecide, gynaecide, or gynocide) – the systematic killing of women or girls.
  • Feticide– the act of killing a foetus.
  • Gendercide– the systematic killing of members of a specific sex or gender.
  • Genocide– the systematic extermination of an entire national, racial, religious, or ethnic group.
  • Homicide– the act of killing of a person. (“Homo” being Latin for man)
  • Human sacrifice– the killing of a human for sacrificial, often religious, reasons.
  • Massacre or mass murder – 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. (“Omni” meaning all)
  • Populicide– see Democide above.
  • Xenocide – The genocide of an entire alien species.

By the way, there’s a name for killing your superiors, not that I’m endorsing the idea of engaging in such practices…

  • Deicide – killing a god or divine being.
  • Episcopicide – killing a bishop.
  • Regicide – killing a king. (Latin: rex, regis means “king”)
  • Tyrannicide – killing a tyrant.

Once you embark on these quite shocking activities (which, as a law-abiding citizen, I do not recommend) it should be noted there are some people who choose manslaughter rather than murder…

  • Constructive Manslaughter – the crime of committing an unlawful act that results in an unintended death. It is also known as unlawful act manslaughter.
  • Corporate Manslaughter – the crime of killing someone unintentionally that is committed by a company or an organisation.
  • Involuntary Manslaughter – (in England and Wales) the crime of committing a reckless or careless act that results in an unintended death. The two main types of involuntary manslaughter under English law are constructive manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter.
  • Gross Negligence Manslaughter – (in England and Wales) the crime of committing an extremely careless and irresponsible act that causes an unintended death.
  • Manslaughter – the crime of causing someone’s death illegally but either without intending to or with reasons that cause it to be regarded as less serious than murder.
  • Voluntary Manslaughter – (in England and Wales) the crime of killing someone intentionally but under circumstances which mean it is not a murder, for example diminished responsibility or loss of control was the driver for the action taken by the perpetrator.
Martin Pollins
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