parricide

/ˌpɛrəˈsaɪd/

Other forms: parricides

If a character in a novel kills one of her own parents, it's called parricide. Your dad will be impressed by your vocabulary skills if you say mid-argument, "I'm so mad at you I could commit parricide!"

You can use the word parricide for the crime of murdering a mother or father, but it also means "one who kills their own parent." Historically, people who kill parental figures (like kings, for example) have also been charged with parricide. Parricide features as an important plot point in many books, ranging from "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" to "The Brothers Karamazov." Parricide combines Latin roots parus, "relative" and cida, "killer."

Definitions of parricide

1. noun

   the murder of your own father or mother
   types:

   matricide

   the murder of one's own mother

   patricide

   the murder of your father

   type of:

   execution, murder, slaying

   unlawful premeditated killing of a human being by a human being
2. noun

   someone who kills his or her parent
   types:

   matricide

   a person who murders their mother

   patricide

   a person who murders their father

   type of:

   liquidator, manslayer, murderer

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