Etymology

guillotine

guil·lo·tine
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Today it means: A machine used for the application of capital punishment by decapitation, consisting of a tall upright frame from which is suspended a heavy diagonal-edged blade which is dropped onto the neck of the person to be executed; also, execution using this machine. Full definition →

French guillotine
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guillotine · noun1

  1. French · borrowed fromguillotine
  2. English todayguillotine

Borrowed from French guillotine, named after the French physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (1738–1814), who proposed its use for capital punishment.

guillotine · verb2

  1. French · borrowed fromguillotiner“to execute with a guillotine, to guillotine”
  2. English todayguillotine

Borrowed from French guillotiner (“to execute with a guillotine, to guillotine”), from guillotine (see etymology 1) + -er (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.