genocide
genocide Lexical Profile
genocide Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.
"The international tribunal was established to prosecute those responsible for the genocide and restore justice to the region."
Word Nuance & Usage
In international law, 'genocide' requires a specific, provable intent to destroy a protected national, ethnical, racial, or religious group in whole or in part, distinguishing it from broader 'crimes against humanity' or 'ethnic cleansing', which focus on widespread persecution or forced displacement without necessarily requiring intent of physical annihilation.
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in 1944 by Polish-Jewish jurist Raphael Lemkin from the Ancient Greek 'genos' (race, tribe, or kin) and the Latin suffix '-cidium' (a killing, from 'caedere', to cut or kill) to establish a legal framework for the systematic destruction of national and ethnic groups.