genocide

The word “genocide” means the deliberate, large-scale killing of people from a particular ethnic, national, or religious group with the intent to destroy it. In plain terms, the intentional mass killing of a people because of who they are.

“Genocide” is pronounced JEH-nuh-syd (/ˈd͡ʒɛnəsaɪd/ in IPA).

Here is “genocide” used in a sentence: “The tribunal was set up to prosecute those responsible for the genocide.”

Depending on how it is used, “genocide” can be a noun and a verb.

The word “genocide” dates back to around 1943 and comes from Latin. Coined in 1943-44 by lawyer Raphael Lemkin from Greek génos ("race, kind") plus Latin -cide ("killing"), originally in reference to the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust.

“Genocide” is a fairly common word in modern English.

“Genocide” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: the deliberate, large-scale killing of people from a particular ethnic, national, or religious group with the intent to destroy it.

Genocide is the deliberate killing of a group with the intent to destroy it in whole or in part, while ethnic cleansing refers to forcibly removing a group from a territory. The key distinction is the intent to destroy the group versus the intent to expel it.

Homicide is the killing of one person by another, whereas genocide is the systematic, large-scale destruction of an entire ethnic, national, or religious group. Genocide is defined by its target being a whole group and by the intent to eliminate it.

The defining element is intent: the deliberate aim to destroy a national, ethnic, or religious group, in whole or in part. Large-scale killing that lacks this specific intent to eliminate a group is generally classified as a different crime.

Yes, genocide is recognized as a crime under international law and is prohibited by international treaty. It is regarded as one of the most serious crimes that a state or group can commit.