génocide

genocide

noun zheh-noh-SEED Rare

Origin: Greek genos (race) + Latin caedere (to kill), coined 1944

Usage Note

Génocide entered international law after Raphael Lemkin coined the term to describe the Holocaust. The adjective génocidaire describes both perpetrators and acts qualifying as genocide. The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) established legal definitions still used today.

Examples

"Le génocide a choqué le monde entier."

Natural Translation

The genocide shocked the entire world.

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