English word genocide comes from a combination of Ancient Greek γένος (genos - variously translated as offspring, descendants, family, tribe, race, kind, etc.) and Latin caedō (kill). The term was reportedly coined by the legal scholar Raphael Lemkin in 1943 or 1944
| Dictionary entry | Language | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| *ǵenh₁ | Proto-Indo-European (ine) | to produce, beget, give birth |
| *ǵénh₁os | Proto-Indo-European (ine) | race, lineage |
| γένος | Ancient Greek (grc) | offspring, descendants, family, clan, nation, tribe, race, kind |
| kh₂eyd- | Proto-Indo-European (ine) | to cut, hew |
| caedo | Latin (lat) | kill, cut, fell (also: caedō) |
| genocide | English (en) | To commit genocide (against); to eliminate (a group of people) completely. (by extension) The systematic suppression of ideas on the basis of cultural or ethnic origin; culturicide. The systematic killing of substantial numbers of people on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, political beliefs, social status, or other particularities. |