Etymograph

English

feticide

Feticide comes from Latin caedō ‘to cut, hew, fell’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂eyd-1‘to cut, hew’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂éydeti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kaidō1‘to cut, hew, fell’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaedō1‘to cut, hew, fell’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1878feticide2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin -cidium
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English feticide
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1878, H. Gibbons: “Notwithstanding the earnest opposition of writers and lecturers and…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂eyd-Wiktionary, Latin -cidium‘to cut, hew’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂éydetiWiktionary, Latin -cidiumreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kaidōWiktionary, Latin -cidium‘to cut, hew, fell’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaedōWiktionary, Latin -cidium‘to cut, hew, fell’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1878feticideWiktionary, English feticide. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1878, H. Gibbons: “Notwithstanding the earnest opposition of writers and lecturers and…”

Formed from fetus + -cide

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- ‘to suckle, nurse’

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-tu-s

Proto-Italic *fētus

Latin fētus ‘offspring’

English fetus

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- ‘to cut, hew’

hit, 25 more

through Proto-Italic *kaidō ‘to cut, hew, fell’

scissors, 23 more

through Latin caedō ‘to cut, hew, fell’

decision, precise, cement, concise, circumcision, incision, chisel, scissor, incisive, excision, caesium, incisor, 24 more

Today it means

noun The killing of a fetus or embryo; an induced abortion.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “feticide”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin -cidium. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- / feticide

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