Hyphenation
mas·sa·creTurkish pronunciation
mäsıkırSynonyms
butchery,
carnage,
slaughter,
annihilation,
assassination,
bloodbath,
bloodshed,
decimation,
extermination,
genocide,
internecion,
murder,
slaying,
annihilate,
butcherPronunciation
/ˈmasəkər/ /ˈmæsəkɜr/
Etymology
[ ma-si-k&r ] (noun.) circa 1578. 1580, from Middle French massacre from Old French macacre, macecle (“slaughterhouse, butchery”) from Medieval Latin mazacrium "massacre, slaughter, killing", also "the head of a newly killed stag", of Germanic origin, from Low Saxon *matskelen "to massacre" (compare German metzeln "to massacre"), frequentive of matsken, matzgen (“to cut, hew”) from Proto-Germanic *mit-, *mait- (“to cut”) from Proto-Indo-European *mei- (“small”). Akin to Old High German meizan (“to cut”), Dutch matsen (“to maul, kill”), dialectal German metzgern "to butcher, kill", German metzgen (“to cut, kill, slaughter cattle”), Metzger (“a butcher”), Metzelei (“massacre”), Gothic