Standard Lemma guide

abattoir

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈæb.əˌtwɑː(ɹ)/
  • General-American: /ˈæb.əˌtwɑɹ/
  • General-American: /ˈæb.əˌtwɑ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: AE2 B AH0 T W AA1 R Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A public slaughterhouse for cattle, sheep, etc.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Once the cows reach maturity, they're sent to the abattoir.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A place or event likened to a slaughterhouse, because of great carnage or bloodshed.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • The army's raid on the enemy turned into a major abattoir.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bloodbath

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a building where animals are butchered

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: butchery, shambles, slaughterhouse

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: building, edifice

History

Etymology

Borrowed from French abattoir, from abattre (“to slaughter”) (cognate to abate) + -oir (“-ory”).

Across languages

Translations

143 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Oromo: moggorraa lafqalii qeeraa — public slaughterhouse
  • Afrikaans: abattoir — public slaughterhouse
  • Afrikaans: slaghuis — public slaughterhouse
  • Afrikaans: slagplaas — public slaughterhouse
  • Albanian: thertore — public slaughterhouse
  • Arabic: مَسْلَخ (maslaḵ) — public slaughterhouse
  • Arabic: مَجْزَر (majzar) — public slaughterhouse
  • Arabic: سلخانة (salaxana) — public slaughterhouse
  • Arabic: مدبح (madbaḥḥ) — public slaughterhouse
  • Arabic: ڭرنة (gurna) — public slaughterhouse
  • Arabic: مجزرة (mgazra) — public slaughterhouse
  • Armenian: սպանդանոց (spandanocʻ) — public slaughterhouse
  • Azerbaijani: sallaqxana — public slaughterhouse
  • Basque: hiltegi — public slaughterhouse
  • Belarusian: бо́йня (bójnja) — public slaughterhouse
  • Belarusian: разні́ца (razníca) — public slaughterhouse
  • Bengali: কসাইখানা (kośaikhana) — public slaughterhouse
  • Bulgarian: кла́ница (klánica) — public slaughterhouse
  • Burmese: သားသတ်ရုံ (sa:satrum) — public slaughterhouse
  • Catalan: escorxador — public slaughterhouse
  • Chinese Mandarin: 屠宰場 /屠宰场 (túzǎichǎng) — public slaughterhouse
  • Chinook Jargon: iɬwəli-haws — public slaughterhouse
  • Czech: jatky — public slaughterhouse
  • Czech: jatka — public slaughterhouse
  • Danish: slagteri — public slaughterhouse
  • Dutch: slachthuis — public slaughterhouse
  • Dutch: abattoir — public slaughterhouse
  • Dutch: slachterij — public slaughterhouse
  • Egyptian: T29-t:pr*Z1 (nmt) — public slaughterhouse
  • Esperanto: buĉejo — public slaughterhouse
  • Estonian: tapamaja — public slaughterhouse
  • Finnish: teurastamo — public slaughterhouse
  • French: abattoir — public slaughterhouse
  • Friulian: macel — public slaughterhouse
  • Galician: matadoiro — public slaughterhouse
  • Georgian: სასაკლაო (sasaḳlao) — public slaughterhouse
  • German: Schlachthaus — public slaughterhouse
  • German: Schlachthof — public slaughterhouse
  • Greek: σφαγείο (sfageío) — public slaughterhouse
  • Hebrew: מִשְׁחָטָה (mishkhatá) — public slaughterhouse
  • Hebrew: בֵּית מִטְבָּחַיִם (bēt mitbaẖáim) — public slaughterhouse
  • Hindi: बूचड़खाना (būcaṛkhānā) — public slaughterhouse
  • Hindi: वधशाला (vadhśālā) — public slaughterhouse
  • Hindi: कसाईखाना (kasāīkhānā) — public slaughterhouse
  • Hindi: वधस्थली (vadhasthalī) — public slaughterhouse
  • Hungarian: vágóhíd — public slaughterhouse
  • Icelandic: sláturhús — public slaughterhouse
  • Ido: bucherio — public slaughterhouse
  • Indonesian: rumah jagal — public slaughterhouse
  • Indonesian: abatoar — public slaughterhouse
  • Ingrian: boinoi — public slaughterhouse
  • Irish: teach coscartha — public slaughterhouse
  • Irish: seamlas — public slaughterhouse
  • Italian: mattatoio — public slaughterhouse
  • Italian: macello — public slaughterhouse
  • Japanese: 屠畜場 (tochikujō) — public slaughterhouse
  • Japanese: 屠場 — public slaughterhouse
  • Japanese: 畜殺場 (chikusatsuba) — public slaughterhouse
  • Kazakh: қасапхана (qasapxana) — public slaughterhouse
  • Khmer: គោឃាតដ្ឋាន (kookhiətatthaan) — public slaughterhouse
  • Khmer: វធភូមិ (vĕəʼthĕəʼphuum) — public slaughterhouse
  • Khmer: សត្វឃាតស្ថាន (sattvaʼkhiətaʼsthaan) — public slaughterhouse
  • Korean: 도살장 (dosaljang) — public slaughterhouse
  • Kyrgyz: кушкана (kuşkana) — public slaughterhouse
  • Lao: ໂຮງຂ້າສັດ (hōng khā sat) — public slaughterhouse
  • Latvian: lopkautuve — public slaughterhouse
  • Lithuanian: skerdykla — public slaughterhouse
  • Louisiana Creole: abatwa — public slaughterhouse
  • Macedonian: кланица (klanica) — public slaughterhouse
  • Malay: rumah sembelihan — public slaughterhouse
  • Malay: rumah potong — public slaughterhouse
  • Malay: rumah sembelih — public slaughterhouse
  • Malay: pejagalan — public slaughterhouse
  • Malay: pembantaian — public slaughterhouse
  • Malay: penjagalan — public slaughterhouse
  • Manx: thie buitçhoorys — public slaughterhouse
  • Māori: wharepatu — public slaughterhouse
  • Māori: whare patu kararehe — public slaughterhouse
  • Māori: whare patu mīti — public slaughterhouse
  • Middle English: bocherie — public slaughterhouse
  • Norwegian Bokmål: abattoir — public slaughterhouse
  • Norwegian Bokmål: slaktehus — public slaughterhouse
  • Norwegian Bokmål: slakteri — public slaughterhouse
  • Pashto: مسلخ (masláx) — public slaughterhouse
  • Pashto: مزبع (mazbáh) — public slaughterhouse
  • Persian: کشتارگاه (koštârgâh) — public slaughterhouse
  • Persian: سلاخ خانه (sallâx-xâne) — public slaughterhouse
  • Persian: مسلخ (maslax) — public slaughterhouse
  • Plautdietsch: Schlachthus — public slaughterhouse
  • Polish: rzeźnia — public slaughterhouse
  • Polish: ubojnia — public slaughterhouse
  • Portuguese: matadouro — public slaughterhouse
  • Portuguese: açougue — public slaughterhouse
  • Portuguese: abatedouro — public slaughterhouse
  • Romanian: abator — public slaughterhouse
  • Romanian: măcelărie — public slaughterhouse
  • Russian: бо́йня (bójnja) — public slaughterhouse
  • Russian: скотобо́йня (skotobójnja) — public slaughterhouse
  • Scottish Gaelic: taigh-spadaidh — public slaughterhouse
  • Serbo-Croatian: клаоница — public slaughterhouse
  • Serbo-Croatian: klaonica — public slaughterhouse
  • Slovak: jatka — public slaughterhouse
  • Slovene: klavnica — public slaughterhouse
  • Spanish: matadero — public slaughterhouse
  • Spanish: desolladero — public slaughterhouse
  • Spanish: degolladero — public slaughterhouse
  • Spanish: rastro — public slaughterhouse
  • Swedish: slakteri — public slaughterhouse
  • Swedish: slakthus — public slaughterhouse
  • Tagalog: bahay-katayan — public slaughterhouse
  • Tagalog: lapaan — public slaughterhouse
  • Tajik: кушторгоҳ (kuštorgoh) — public slaughterhouse
  • Tajik: саллоххона (salloxxona) — public slaughterhouse
  • Tajik: маслах (maslax) — public slaughterhouse
  • Thai: โรงฆ่าสัตว์ (roong-kâa-sàt) — public slaughterhouse
  • Turkish: kanara — public slaughterhouse
  • Turkish: kesimevi — public slaughterhouse
  • Turkish: kesimhane — public slaughterhouse
  • Turkish: mezbaha — public slaughterhouse
  • Ottoman Turkish: سلخانه — public slaughterhouse
  • Ottoman Turkish: مزبع — public slaughterhouse
  • Turkmen: gassaphana — public slaughterhouse
  • Ukrainian: бо́йня (bójnja) — public slaughterhouse
  • Ukrainian: скотобі́йня (skotobíjnja) — public slaughterhouse
  • Ukrainian: бі́йня (bíjnja) — public slaughterhouse
  • Ukrainian: різниця (riznycja) — public slaughterhouse
  • Urdu: بوچڑخانہ (būcaṛkhāna) — public slaughterhouse
  • Uyghur: قۇشخانا (qushxana) — public slaughterhouse
  • Uzbek: kushxona — public slaughterhouse
  • Venetan: maseło — public slaughterhouse
  • Venetan: maçelo — public slaughterhouse
  • Vietnamese: lò mổ — public slaughterhouse
  • Vietnamese: lò sát sinh — public slaughterhouse
  • Volapük: pugöp — public slaughterhouse
  • Walloon: abatwer — public slaughterhouse
  • Welsh: lladd-dy — public slaughterhouse
  • Dutch: slachtplaats — a place likened to be a slaughterhouse
  • Finnish: lihamylly — a place likened to be a slaughterhouse
  • Ido: bucheyo — a place likened to be a slaughterhouse
  • Polish: rzeźnia — a place likened to be a slaughterhouse
  • Polish: jatka — a place likened to be a slaughterhouse
  • Russian: резня́ (reznjá) — a place likened to be a slaughterhouse
  • Russian: бо́йня (bójnja) — a place likened to be a slaughterhouse
Real reading context

abattoir in complete knowledge articles