slaughter
/ˈsloːtə/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.84 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book VI, 1773, The First Six Books of Milton's Paradise Lost, Edinburgh, page 416, For ſin, on war and mutual ſlaughter bent."
- "[…] I ſee Th’ Inſulting Tyrant prancing o’er the Field Strow’d with Rome’s Citizens, and drench’d in Slaughter, His Horſe’s Hoofs wet with Patrician Blood."
- "There was a massive slaughter of W.R. steam power at the conclusion of the summer timetable. In all, 169 locomotives were condemned."
- "Hurriedly he snatched up others, one or two at a time, until he had slaughtered thirty of Hrothgar's doughtiest earls."
- "Therefore cheere vp your mindes, prepare to fight, He that can take or ſlaughter Tamburlaine, Shall rule the Prouince of Albania."
Etymology
From Middle English slaughter, from Old Norse *slahtr, later sláttr, from Proto-Germanic *slahtrą, from Proto-Germanic *slahaną. Equivalent to slay + -ter (as in laughter). Eventually derived from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, strike, throw”). Related with Dutch slachten, German schlachten, Finnish lahdata (all “to slaughter”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsloːtə/
- British English: /ˈslɔːtə/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
as a lamb to the slaughter
come like a lamb to the slaughter
lamb to the slaughter
like a lamb to the slaughter
self-slaughter
self-slaughtered
slaughter animal
woman-slaughter