Standard Lemma guide

murderer

noun · 2 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: /ˈmɜːdəɹə/
  • General-American: /ˈmɝdɚɚ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: M ER1 D ER0 ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A person who commits murder.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Neither does a great nation [...] debate, with drivelling tears, and diabolical sympathies, whether it ought not piously to save, and nursingly cherish, the lives of its murderers.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a criminal who commits homicide (who performs the unlawful premeditated killing of another human being)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: liquidator, manslayer

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: criminal, felon, crook, outlaw, malefactor, killer, slayer

Narrower terms: assassin, assassinator, bravo, butcher, cutthroat, fratricide, gunman, gunslinger, hired gun, gun, gun for hire, triggerman, hit man, hitman, torpedo, shooter, hatchet man, iceman, infanticide, mass murderer, murderess, parricide, ripper, serial killer, serial murderer, Jack the Ripper

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

196 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: moordenaar — person who commits murder
  • Alabama: aatiibi — person who commits murder
  • Albanian: vrasës — person who commits murder
  • Albanian: vrasëse — person who commits murder
  • Northern Altai: ӧлтречи (öltreči) — person who commits murder
  • Southern Altai: ӧлтӱречи (öltüreči) — person who commits murder
  • Arabic: قَاتِل (qātil) — person who commits murder
  • Arabic: قَاتِلَة (qātila) — person who commits murder
  • Armenian: մարդասպան (mardaspan) — person who commits murder
  • Asturian: asesín — person who commits murder
  • Azerbaijani: qatil — person who commits murder
  • Bashkir: ҡатил (qatil) — person who commits murder
  • Belarusian: забо́йца (zabójca) — person who commits murder
  • Bengali: খুনী (khuni) — person who commits murder
  • Bengali: কাতেল (qatel) — person who commits murder
  • Breton: lazher — person who commits murder
  • Bulgarian: уби́ец (ubíec) — person who commits murder
  • Bulgarian: уби́йца (ubíjca) — person who commits murder
  • Burmese: လူသတ်သမား (lusatsa.ma:) — person who commits murder
  • Catalan: assassí — person who commits murder
  • Catalan: assassina — person who commits murder
  • Cherokee: ᎠᏓᎯᎯ (adahihi) — person who commits murder
  • Chickasaw: hattak-abi' — person who commits murder
  • Chinese Cantonese: 兇手 /凶手 — person who commits murder
  • Chinese Cantonese: 殺人犯 /杀人犯 — person who commits murder
  • Chinese Cantonese: 殺手 /杀手 (saat3 sau2) — person who commits murder
  • Chinese: 殺手 /杀手 (zh-min-nan) — person who commits murder
  • Chinese Mandarin: 兇手 /凶手 (xiōngshǒu) — person who commits murder
  • Chinese Mandarin: 殺人犯 /杀人犯 (shārénfàn) — person who commits murder
  • Chinese Mandarin: 殺手 /杀手 (shāshǒu) — person who commits murder
  • Choctaw: abi — person who commits murder
  • Crimean Tatar: qatil — person who commits murder
  • Czech: vrah — person who commits murder
  • Czech: vražedkyně — person who commits murder
  • Danish: morder — person who commits murder
  • Danish: morderske — person who commits murder
  • Dutch: moordenaar — person who commits murder
  • Dutch: moordenaarster — person who commits murder
  • Dutch: moordenares — person who commits murder
  • Esperanto: murdinto — person who commits murder
  • Esperanto: murdintino — person who commits murder
  • Esperanto: murdisto — person who commits murder
  • Estonian: mõrtsukas — person who commits murder
  • Finnish: murhaaja — person who commits murder
  • French: meurtrier — person who commits murder
  • French: meurtrière — person who commits murder
  • French: assassin — person who commits murder
  • French: assassine — person who commits murder
  • Old French: murtrier — person who commits murder
  • Galician: asasino — person who commits murder
  • Galician: asasina — person who commits murder
  • Georgian: მკვლელი (mḳvleli) — person who commits murder
  • German: Mörder — person who commits murder
  • German: Mörderin — person who commits murder
  • Greek: δολοφόνος (dolofónos) — person who commits murder
  • Greek: δολοφόνισσα (dolofónissa) — person who commits murder
  • Greek: φονιάς (foniás) — person who commits murder
  • Greek: φόνισσα (fónissa) — person who commits murder
  • Ancient Greek: φονεύς (phoneús) — person who commits murder
  • Ancient Greek: φονεύτρια (phoneútria) — person who commits murder
  • Gujarati: હત્યારો (hatyāro) — person who commits murder
  • Hebrew: רוצח \ רוֹצֵחַ (rotséakh) — person who commits murder
  • Hebrew: רוצחת \ רוֹצַחַת (rotsákhat) — person who commits murder
  • Hindi: हत्यारा (hatyārā) — person who commits murder
  • Hindi: ख़ूनी (xūnī) — person who commits murder
  • Hindi: क़ातिल (qātil) — person who commits murder
  • Hungarian: gyilkos — person who commits murder
  • Icelandic: morðingi — person who commits murder
  • Ikizu: umwiti class 1 — person who commits murder
  • Indonesian: pembunuh — person who commits murder
  • Ingrian: murhamees — person who commits murder
  • Ingrian: päänikka — person who commits murder
  • Italian: assassino — person who commits murder
  • Italian: assassina — person who commits murder
  • Japanese: 人殺し (hitogoroshi) — person who commits murder
  • Japanese: 殺人者 (satsujinsha) — person who commits murder
  • Kabwa: omwiti class 1 — person who commits murder
  • Kalmyk: алач (alaç) — person who commits murder
  • Kannada: ಕೊಲೆಗಾರ (kolegāra) — person who commits murder
  • Kazakh: қанішер (qanışer) — person who commits murder
  • Kazakh: қаныпезер (qanypezer) — person who commits murder
  • Khmer: ឃាតករ (khiət kɑɑ) — person who commits murder
  • Khmer: អ្នកសម្លាប់ (nĕək sɑmlap) — person who commits murder
  • Korean: 살인자 (sarinja) — person who commits murder
  • Northern Kurdish: qatil — person who commits murder
  • Northern Kurdish: mêrkuj — person who commits murder
  • Northern Kurdish: kujer — person who commits murder
  • Kyrgyz: өлтүргүч (öltürgüc) — person who commits murder
  • Kyrgyz: өлтүрүүчү (öltürüücü) — person who commits murder
  • Lao: ຄາດຕະກອນ (khāt ta kǭn) — person who commits murder
  • Latgalian: slapkauņs — person who commits murder
  • Latin: homicīda — person who commits murder
  • Latin: occīsor — person who commits murder
  • Latin: occītrīx — person who commits murder
  • Latin: interfector — person who commits murder
  • Latin: interfectrīx — person who commits murder
  • Latvian: slepkava — person who commits murder
  • Lithuanian: žmogžudys — person who commits murder
  • Lithuanian: žmogžudė — person who commits murder
  • Luxembourgish: Mäerder — person who commits murder
  • Luxembourgish: Mäerderin — person who commits murder
  • Macedonian: убиец (ubiec) — person who commits murder
  • Macedonian: катиљ (katilj) — person who commits murder
  • Malay: pembunuh — person who commits murder
  • Malayalam: കൊലപാതകി (kolapātaki) — person who commits murder
  • Māori: kaikōhuru — person who commits murder
  • Marathi: खुनी (khunī) — person who commits murder
  • Mongolian: алуурчин (aluurčin) — person who commits murder
  • Norman: meurtriyi — person who commits murder
  • Norwegian Bokmål: morder — person who commits murder
  • Norwegian Bokmål: morderske — person who commits murder
  • Norwegian Bokmål: drapsperson — person who commits murder
  • Norwegian Bokmål: drapsmann — person who commits murder
  • Norwegian Bokmål: drapskvinne — person who commits murder
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: mordar — person who commits murder
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: morderske — person who commits murder
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: drapsperson — person who commits murder
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: drapsmann — person who commits murder
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: drapskvinne — person who commits murder
  • Nyole (Uganda): omutemu class 1 — person who commits murder
  • Nyole (Uganda): omwiti class 1 — person who commits murder
  • Old East Slavic: головьникъ (golovĭnikŭ) — person who commits murder
  • Old English: manslaga — person who commits murder
  • Old English: slaga — person who commits murder
  • Old Norse: morðari — person who commits murder
  • Pashto: قاتل (qātél) — person who commits murder
  • Pashto: خوني (xuní) — person who commits murder
  • Persian: قاتل (qâtel) — person who commits murder
  • Persian: آدمکش (âdamkoš) — person who commits murder
  • Plautdietsch: Merda — person who commits murder
  • Polish: morderca — person who commits murder
  • Polish: morderczyni — person who commits murder
  • Polish: zabójca — person who commits murder
  • Polish: zabójczyni — person who commits murder
  • Old Polish: głównik — person who commits murder
  • Portuguese: assassino — person who commits murder
  • Portuguese: assassina — person who commits murder
  • Portuguese: homicida — person who commits murder
  • Romanian: criminal — person who commits murder
  • Romanian: criminală — person who commits murder
  • Russian: уби́йца (ubíjca) — person who commits murder
  • Russian: ки́ллер (kíller) — person who commits murder
  • Russian: душегу́б (dušegúb) — person who commits murder
  • Northern Sami: olmmošgoddi — person who commits murder
  • Sanskrit: घातक (ghātaka) — person who commits murder
  • Sanskrit: ताडक (tāḍaka) — person who commits murder
  • Scottish Gaelic: murtair — person who commits murder
  • Serbo-Croatian: у̀бица — person who commits murder
  • Serbo-Croatian: у̀бојица — person who commits murder
  • Serbo-Croatian: ùbica — person who commits murder
  • Serbo-Croatian: ùbojica — person who commits murder
  • Sinhalese: මිනීමරුවා (minīmaruwā) — person who commits murder
  • Slovak: vrah — person who commits murder
  • Slovak: vrahyňa — person who commits murder
  • Slovene: morilec — person who commits murder
  • Slovene: morilka — person who commits murder
  • Spanish: asesino — person who commits murder
  • Spanish: asesina — person who commits murder
  • Spanish: victimario — person who commits murder
  • Spanish: victimaria — person who commits murder
  • Spanish: matador — person who commits murder
  • Spanish: matadora — person who commits murder
  • Spanish: homicida — person who commits murder
  • Swahili: muuaji — person who commits murder
  • Swedish: mördare — person who commits murder
  • Swedish: mörderska — person who commits murder
  • Tajik: қотил (qotil) — person who commits murder
  • Tajik: кушанда (kušanda) — person who commits murder
  • Tajik: одамкуш (odamkuš) — person who commits murder
  • Tamil: கொலைகாரன் (kolaikāraṉ) — person who commits murder
  • Tatar: үтерүче (üterüçe) — person who commits murder
  • Tatar: катыйль (qatıylʹ) — person who commits murder
  • Telugu: హంతకుడు (hantakuḍu) — person who commits murder
  • Thai: ฆาตกร (kâat-dtà-gɔɔn) — person who commits murder
  • Tocharian B: kauṣenta — person who commits murder
  • Turkish: katil — person who commits murder
  • Turkmen: ganhor — person who commits murder
  • Ukrainian: вби́вця (vbývcja) — person who commits murder
  • Ukrainian: уби́вця (ubývcja) — person who commits murder
  • Ukrainian: душогу́б (dušohúb) — person who commits murder
  • Urdu: قاتل (qātil) — person who commits murder
  • Urdu: خونی (xūnī) — person who commits murder
  • Uyghur: قاتىل (qatil) — person who commits murder
  • Uyghur: شۇمبەن (shumben) — person who commits murder
  • Uzbek: qotil — person who commits murder
  • Uzbek: odamkush — person who commits murder
  • Vietnamese: kẻ giết người — person who commits murder
  • Wiradjuri: baluubuunildaayn — person who commits murder
  • Woiwurrung: moon-a-bil — person who commits murder
  • Yakut: өлөрүөхсүт (ölörüöqsüt) — person who commits murder
  • Yao (Africa): jwakuwulaga ŵandu class 1 — person who commits murder
  • Yao (Africa): jwakuulaga class 1 — person who commits murder
  • Yiddish: מערדער (merder) — person who commits murder
  • Yiddish: רוצח (rotseyekh) — person who commits murder
  • Yiddish: טויטשלאַגער (toytshlager) — person who commits murder
  • Zulu: umbulali — person who commits murder
Real reading context

murderer in complete knowledge articles