assassin

assassin

English

Etymology

From either French assassin or Italian assassino, from Arabic أَسَاسِيِّين‎ (ʾasāsiyyīn, “people who are faithful to the foundation [of the faith]”) and the folkloric etymology Arabic حَشَّاشِين‎ (ḥaššāšīn, “hashish users; low-lives”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈsæsɪn/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æsɪn

Noun

assassin (plural assassins)

1. (historical) A member of the Nizari Ismaili Muslim community of the Alamut Period.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 29, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:

     The Assassines, a nation depending of Phœnicia, are esteemed among the Mahometists of a soveraigne devotion and puritie of maners; they hold, that the readiest and shortest way to gaine Paradise, is to kill some one of a contrary religion […].

2. Someone who intentionally kills a person, especially a professional who kills a public or political figure.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), OCLC 630079698, page 233:

     The hand that held the bond of so many jarring interests lay powerless beneath the pall. The perils of war had been about him, and the midnight assassin had watched his path; yet he died quietly in his bed.

   • 1968, Robert F. Kennedy, On the Mindless Menace of Violence:

     What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr's cause can ever be stilled by an assassin’s bullet.

   • 2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist‎, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:

     Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.

3. Any ruthless killer.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:killer

Derived terms

• assassinate
• assassination
• assassinator
• assassinatress
• assassinatrix
• assassin bug
• assassin fly
• assassinous
• assassinship
• assassin spider
• bee assassin
• Great Assassin

 

Translations

member of the historical Ismaili Muslim militant group

Arabic: حَشَّاش‎ m (ḥaššāš) Chinese: Mandarin: 哈薩辛／哈萨辛 (hāsàxīn) Czech: asasín m, hašašín Danish: assassiner (da) pl Dutch: assassijn m, Assassijn m French: assassin (fr) m German: Assassine (de) m Greek: ασσασίνος (el) m (assasínos) Hungarian: asszaszin (hu) Italian: assassino (it) m Persian: حشاشین‎ (haššâšin) Polish: asasyn m Portuguese: assassino (pt) m Russian: ассаси́н (ru) m (assasín), хашаши́н m (xašašín) Serbo-Croatian: asasin (sh) m Slovak: asasín m Turkish: haşhaşi Welsh: asasin m

one who, motivated by political reasons, intentionally kills a particular person

Albanian: please add this translation if you can Arabic: قَاتِل‎ (ar) m (qātil), سَفَّاح‎ m (saffāḥ), سَفَّاك‎ m (saffāk) Armenian: մարդասպան (hy) (mardaspan) Belarusian: наёмны забо́йца m (najómny zabójca) Bulgarian: уби́ец (bg) m (ubíec), уби́йца f (ubíjca), терори́ст m (teroríst), терори́стка f (terorístka), нае́мен уби́ец m (naémen ubíec) Catalan: assassí (ca) m, assassina (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 刺客 (zh) (cìkè), 凶手 (zh) (xiōngshǒu) Czech: atentátník (cs) m, atentátnice (cs) f Danish: snigmorder c, snigmorderske c, attentatmand c, attentatkvinde c, lønmorder c Dutch: sluipmoordenaar (nl) m, sluipmoordenares f, huurmoordenaar (nl) m, huurmoordenares f Esperanto: murdinto, murdintino (female) Estonian: palgamõrvar Faroese: slysdrápsmaður m Finnish: salamurhaaja (fi) French: assassin (fr) m, assassine (fr) f Friulian: sassin m Galician: asasino (gl) m, asasina f Georgian: კილერი (ḳileri), დაქირავებული მკვლელი (dakiravebuli mḳvleli) German: Attentäter (de) m, Attentäterin (de) f, Mörder (de) m, Mörderin (de) f Greek: δολοφόνος (el) m or f (dolofónos) Hebrew: מִתְנַקֵּשׁ‎ m (mitnakésh), מִתְנַקֶּשֶׁת‎ f (mitnakéshet) Hungarian: bérgyilkos (hu) Icelandic: launmorðingi m Irish: feallmharfóir m Italian: assassino (it) m, assassina (it) f Japanese: 暗殺者 (あんさつしゃ, ansatsusha), 刺客 (ja) (しきゃく, shikyaku), キラー (kirā) Khmer: ឃាតករ (khiət kɑɑ) Korean: 암살자 (amsalja), 자객 (ko) (jagaek) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: suîqestker (ku), mirovkuj (ku) Latin: assassīnus m, percussor m, sīcārius Latvian: algots slepkava m or f, slepkava m or f Macedonian: атентатор m (atentator) Malay: pembunuh upahan Norman: assâsîn m, assâsine f Norwegian: Bokmål: snikmorder m, snikmorderske m or f, attentatmann m, attentatkvinne m or f, lønnmorder m Nynorsk: snikmordar m, attentatmann m, attentatkvinne f Old English: morþslaga m Oriya: please add this translation if you can Persian: آدمکش‎ (fa) (âdamkoš) Polish: zamachowiec (pl) m, zamachowczyni f, skrytobójca (pl) m, skrytobójczyni f Portuguese: assassino (pt) m, assassina (pt) f Russian: уби́йца (ru) m or f (ubíjca), ки́ллер (ru) m (kíller), наёмный уби́йца m (najómnyj ubíjca) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: атѐнта̄тор m Roman: atèntātor (sh) m Slovak: atentátnik m, atentátnička f Slovene: atentator m, atentatorka f Spanish: asesino (es) m, asesina (es) f Swedish: lönnmördare (sv) c, lönnmörderska (sv) c Tagalog: manlilingo Thai: ผู้สังหาร (pûu-sǎng-hǎan) Tibetan: please add this translation if you can Turkish: suikastçı (tr) Ukrainian: на́йманий уби́вця m (nájmanyj ubývcja) Vietnamese: kẻ ám sát, sát thủ (vi) Welsh: bradlofrudd m Yiddish: רוצח‎ m (retseyekh), מערדער‎ m (merder)

any ruthless killer

Bulgarian: уби́ец (bg) m (ubíec), уби́йца f (ubíjca) Catalan: assassí (ca) m, assassina (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 暗殺者／暗杀者 (zh) (ànshāzhě) Danish: morder (da) c, drabsmand c Dutch: moordenaar (nl) m, moordenares (nl) f, moordenaarster f French: assassin (fr) m, assassine (fr) f Galician: asasino (gl) m, asasina f Georgian: მკვლელი (mḳvleli) German: Meuchelmörder (de) m, Meuchelmörderin (de) f, Mörder (de) m, Mörderin (de) f Greek: δολοφόνος (el) m or f (dolofónos) Italian: assassino (it) m, assassina (it) f Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: qatil (ku) m or f, mirovkuj (ku) m or f Latin: sīcārius m Norman: assâsîn m, assâsine f Polish: zabójca (pl) m, zabójczyni (pl) f, zbójczyni (pl) f Portuguese: assassino (pt) m, assassina (pt) f Russian: уби́йца (ru) m or f (ubíjca) Scottish Gaelic: murtair m Serbo-Croatian: ubojica (sh), убојица m Slovak: vrah (sk) m Spanish: asesino (es) m, asesina (es) f Turkish: katil (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Korean: (please verify) 자객 (ko) (jagaek)

Verb

assassin (third-person singular simple present assassins, present participle assassining, simple past and past participle assassined)

1. (nonstandard) To assassinate.

Translations

assassinate — see assassinate

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French

Etymology

From either Arabic حَشَّاشِين‎ (ḥaššāšīn, “hashish users”) or أَسَاسِيُّون‎ (ʾasāsiyyūn).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.sa.sɛ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

assassin m (plural assassins, feminine assassine)

1. an assassin or other murderer

Adjective

assassin (feminine assassine, masculine plural assassins, feminine plural assassines)

1. deadly; fatal; that kills

Further reading

• “assassin”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.