Where does “fratricide” come from?
fratricide (Old French) comes from Latin fratricida, from Latin -cida, from Latin -a, from Proto-Italic -ā, from Proto-Indo-European -éh₂.
Ancestry of “fratricide”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | fratricida | a brother's murderer, fratricide |
| 2 | Latin | -cida | Noun-forming suffix denoting “one who kills” or... |
| 3 | Latin | -a | suffixed to the roots of verbs, forms agent... |
| 4 | Proto-Italic | -ā | Forms masculine agent nouns from prefixed or compounded bases |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -éh₂ | — |