Skip to content

genocidio

genocide

noun heh-noh-SEE-dyoh Rare

Origin: Coined in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin from Greek genos (race/people) + Latin caedere (to kill).

Usage Note

Genocidio is a legal and historical term defined under the 1948 UN Genocide Convention as acts committed with intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. In Spanish discourse it appears in contexts of the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, and historical debates about colonial violence. The adjective is genocida (also the noun for a perpetrator of genocide).

Examples

"El tribunal juzgó el genocidio cometido durante la guerra."

Natural Translation

The court tried the genocide committed during the war.

Free starter pack

Building your Spanish vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common Spanish words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Explore Spanish by topic