Wordwyrt

killer

/ˈkɪlə/KIH-lur
/ˈkɪlɚ/KIH-lur

Meaningone that hits

Common meaning: a person or thing that kills

Journey through time

  1. Old Norse (Icelandic)kolla‘to hit on the head’source
  2. Middle Englishkillen‘to strike’source
  3. Englishkill‘to put to death’
  4. Englishformed in English from killkiller‘a person or thing that kills’ · today

Sources & notes

Inferred source: no dictionary we use has an entry for this exact word. Its history is worked out from closely related, listed words in the same family, and we are trusting that link, so bear that in mind. Inferred meaning: one that hits. It can be inferred from any of: kill.

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Formed in English from kill + -er (inferred: this exact word is not listed in our dictionaries).

Source words

  • kolla Old Norse (Icelandic) · source word “to hit”

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