Where does “assassination” come from?
Assassination comes from English assassin, from French assassin, from Italian assassino, ultimately from Latin roots meaning "one who kills" with formative suffixes -atus, -are, -aris, and -alis.
assassination (English): The murder of a person, especially for political...
Definitions
- The murder of a person, especially for political...
Ancestry of “assassination”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | assassinate | To murder someone, especially an important... |
| 2 | English | -ate | having the specified thing; characterized by the... |
| 3 | English | -cy | Used to form nouns of state, condition or quality... |
| 4 | Anglo-Norman | -cie | — |
| 5 | Latin | -tia | office, rank |
| 6 | Latin | -ia | Used to form a feminine abstract noun, usually... |
| 7 | Latin | -ius | forming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter... |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | -jōs | Forms comparative adjectives |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -yós | Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems |