behead

English

Etymology

From Middle English beheden, bihefden, biheveden, from Old English behēafdian (“to behead”), equivalent to be- (“off, away”) +‎ head.

Pronunciation

Rhymes: -ɛd

Verb

behead (third-person singular simple present beheads, present participle beheading, simple past and past participle beheaded)

(transitive) To remove the head of; to cut someone's head off.

Synonyms

decapitate
decollate

Derived terms

beheaded
beheading

Translations

to remove the head

Arabic: ضَرَبَ عُنُقَهُ‎ (ḍaraba ʿunuqahu)
Armenian: գլխատել (hy) (glxatel), գլուխը կտրել (gluxə ktrel)
Aromanian: gushuescu
Belarusian: абезгало́ўліваць impf (abjezhalóŭlivacʹ), абезгало́віць pf (abjezhalóvicʹ)
Bulgarian: обезглавя́вам (bg) impf (obezglavjávam)
Burmese: please add this translation if you can
Catalan: decapitar (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: (informal) 砍頭 (zh), 砍头 (zh) (kǎntóu), (formal) 斬首 (zh), 斩首 (zh) (zhǎnshǒu)
Czech: stít
Danish: halshugge
Dutch: onthoofden (nl)
Esperanto: senkapigi
Estonian: pead maha raiuma
Faroese: hálshøgga
Finnish: katkaista kaula, mestata (fi)
French: décapiter (fr)
Georgian: თავის მოჭრა (tavis moč̣ra), თავის მოკვეთა (tavis moḳveta), თავის წაგდებინება (tavis c̣agdebineba)
German: enthaupten (de), köpfen (de)
Greek: αποκεφαλίζω (el) (apokefalízo), καρατομώ (el) (karatomó)
Ancient Greek: πελεκίζω (pelekízō)
Hebrew: לערוף ראשים‎, עָרַף‎ (he) ('aráf)
Hungarian: lefejez (hu), lefejezni
Indonesian: memenggal (id), memancung
Italian: decapitare (it)
Japanese: (phrase) 首を刎ねる (くびをはねる, kubi o haneru), 斬首する (ざんしゅする, zanshu suru), 刎ねる (ja) (はねる, haneru), (phrase) 打ち首にする (うちくびにする, uchikubi ni suru)
Khmer: កាត់ក្បាល (kat kbaal), កាត់ក (km) (kat kɑɑ)
Korean: 목을 베다 (mogeul beda)
Kurdish: please add this translation if you can

Lao: please add this translation if you can
Latin: dētruncō, obtruncō; decapitare (Late Latin)
Luxembourgish: käppen
Macedonian: обезглавува (obezglavuva)
Malay: pancung
Maori: pōuto (i te kaki)
Norwegian: halshugge, halshogge
Old English: beheafdian, heafdian
Old Saxon: gihōfdon, hōfdon
Persian: گردن زدن‎ (fa) (gardan zadan)
Polish: ściąć głowę pf
Portuguese: decapitar (pt), degolar (pt)
Quechua: qhuruy
Romanian: decapita (ro)
Russian: обезгла́вливать (ru) impf (obezglávlivatʹ), обезгла́вить (ru) pf (obezglávitʹ), отруба́ть го́лову impf (otrubátʹ gólovu), отруби́ть го́лову pf (otrubítʹ gólovu)
Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
Slovak: sťať pf, stínať impf
Slovene: obglaviti (sl)
Spanish: descabezar (es), decapitar (es)
Swedish: halshugga (sv), dekapitera (sv)
Tagalog: pugutan
Tamil: please add this translation if you can
Thai: ตัดศีรษะ (dtàt sǐi-sà)
Turkish: boynunu vurmak (tr), (colloquial) kafasını uçurmak (tr), (colloquial) kellesini uçurmak (tr)
Ukrainian: обезголо́влювати impf (obezholóvljuvaty), обезголо́вити pf (obezholóvyty), обезгла́влювати impf (obezhlávljuvaty), обезгла́вити pf (obezhlávyty)
Urdu: سرقلم کرنا‎ (sar qalam karna)
Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
Vietnamese: chặt đầu, chém đầu
Welsh: torfynyglu