Meanings
nounabattoir (plural abattoirs)
plural abattoirs
- A public slaughterhouse for cattle, sheep, etc.First known use Early 19ᵗʰ century.
Once the cows reach maturity, they're sent to the abattoir.
- figurativelyA place or event of great carnage or bloodshed.
The army's raid on the enemy turned into a major abattoir.
2 more examples
The corridors where North Korean troops would be advancing [in a hypothetical invasion of South Korea] would almost certainly be turned into human abattoirs.
2017 April 19, Franz-Stefan Gady, “What Would the Second Korean War Look Like?”, in The Diplomat“Now, down here we have the medium security cells and the various abattoirs. Be sure to reserve your spot on the sign-in sheet 'cause the abattoirs get crazy busy.”
2021 September 2, Sam Johnson & Chris Marcil, “The Cloak of Duplication” (1:58 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 3, episode 2, spoken by The Guide (Kristen Schaal)Synonyms: bloodbath
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA place or event of great carnage or bloodshed.
Similar
More synonyms by meaning
nouna building where animals are butchered
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Afrikaans abattoir, slaghuis
- abattoirpublic slaughterhouse
- slaghuispublic slaughterhouse
- slagplaaspublic slaughterhouse
Arabic مَسْلَخ, مَجْزَر
- مَسْلَخ (maslaḵ)public slaughterhouse
- مَجْزَر (majzar)public slaughterhouse
Basque hiltegi
- hiltegipublic slaughterhouse
Bengali কসাইখানা
- কসাইখানা (kośaikhana)public slaughterhouse
Bulgarian кла́ница
- кла́ница (klánica)public slaughterhouse
Catalan escorxador
- escorxadorpublic slaughterhouse
Chinese Mandarin 屠宰場 /屠宰场
- 屠宰場 /屠宰场 (túzǎichǎng)public slaughterhouse
Czech jatky, jatka
- jatkypublic slaughterhouse
- jatkapublic slaughterhouse
Danish slagteri
- slagteripublic slaughterhouse
Dutch slachthuis, abattoir
- slachthuispublic slaughterhouse
- abattoirpublic slaughterhouse
- slachterijpublic slaughterhouse
- slachtplaatsa place likened to be a slaughterhouse
Esperanto buĉejo
- buĉejopublic slaughterhouse
Estonian tapamaja
- tapamajapublic slaughterhouse
Finnish teurastamo, lihamylly
- teurastamopublic slaughterhouse
- lihamyllya place likened to be a slaughterhouse
French abattoir
- abattoirpublic slaughterhouse
German Schlachthaus, Schlachthof
- Schlachthauspublic slaughterhouse
- Schlachthofpublic slaughterhouse
Greek σφαγείο
- σφαγείο (sfageío)public slaughterhouse
Hebrew מִשְׁחָטָה, בֵּית מִטְבָּחַיִם
- מִשְׁחָטָה (mishkhatá)public slaughterhouse
- בֵּית מִטְבָּחַיִם (bēt mitbaẖáim)public slaughterhouse
Hindi बूचड़खाना, वधशाला
- बूचड़खाना (būcaṛkhānā)public slaughterhouse
- वधशाला (vadhśālā)public slaughterhouse
- कसाईखाना (kasāīkhānā)public slaughterhouse
- वधस्थली (vadhasthalī)public slaughterhouse
Hungarian vágóhíd
- vágóhídpublic slaughterhouse
Icelandic sláturhús
- sláturhúspublic slaughterhouse
Indonesian rumah jagal, abatoar
- rumah jagalpublic slaughterhouse
- abatoarpublic slaughterhouse
Irish teach coscartha, seamlas
- teach coscarthapublic slaughterhouse
- seamlaspublic slaughterhouse
Italian mattatoio, macello
- mattatoiopublic slaughterhouse
- macellopublic slaughterhouse
Japanese 屠畜場, 屠場
- 屠畜場 (tochikujō)public slaughterhouse
- 屠場public slaughterhouse
- 畜殺場 (chikusatsuba)public slaughterhouse
Korean 도살장
- 도살장 (dosaljang)public slaughterhouse
Latvian lopkautuve
- lopkautuvepublic slaughterhouse
Lithuanian skerdykla
- skerdyklapublic slaughterhouse
Malay rumah sembelihan, rumah potong
- rumah sembelihanpublic slaughterhouse
- rumah potongpublic slaughterhouse
- rumah sembelihpublic slaughterhouse
- pejagalanpublic slaughterhouse
- pembantaianpublic slaughterhouse
- penjagalanpublic slaughterhouse
Māori wharepatu, whare patu kararehe
- wharepatupublic slaughterhouse
- whare patu kararehepublic slaughterhouse
- whare patu mītipublic slaughterhouse
Norwegian Bokmål abattoir, slaktehus
- abattoirpublic slaughterhouse
- slaktehuspublic slaughterhouse
- slakteripublic slaughterhouse
Persian کشتارگاه, سلاخ خانه
- کشتارگاه (koštârgâh)public slaughterhouse
- سلاخ خانه (sallâx-xâne)public slaughterhouse
- مسلخ (maslax)public slaughterhouse
Polish rzeźnia, ubojnia
- rzeźniapublic slaughterhouse
- ubojniapublic slaughterhouse
- rzeźniaa place likened to be a slaughterhouse
- jatkaa place likened to be a slaughterhouse
Portuguese matadouro, açougue
- matadouropublic slaughterhouse
- açouguepublic slaughterhouse
- abatedouropublic slaughterhouse
Romanian abator, măcelărie
- abatorpublic slaughterhouse
- măcelăriepublic slaughterhouse
Russian бо́йня, скотобо́йня
- бо́йня (bójnja)public slaughterhouse
- скотобо́йня (skotobójnja)public slaughterhouse
- резня́ (reznjá)a place likened to be a slaughterhouse
- бо́йня (bójnja)a place likened to be a slaughterhouse
Scottish Gaelic taigh-spadaidh
- taigh-spadaidhpublic slaughterhouse
Slovak jatka
- jatkapublic slaughterhouse
Spanish matadero, desolladero
- mataderopublic slaughterhouse
- desolladeropublic slaughterhouse
- degolladeropublic slaughterhouse
- rastropublic slaughterhouse
Swedish slakteri, slakthus
- slakteripublic slaughterhouse
- slakthuspublic slaughterhouse
Tagalog bahay-katayan, lapaan
- bahay-katayanpublic slaughterhouse
- lapaanpublic slaughterhouse
Thai โรงฆ่าสัตว์
- โรงฆ่าสัตว์ (roong-kâa-sàt)public slaughterhouse
Turkish kanara, kesimevi
- kanarapublic slaughterhouse
- kesimevipublic slaughterhouse
- kesimhanepublic slaughterhouse
- mezbahapublic slaughterhouse
Ukrainian бо́йня, скотобі́йня
- бо́йня (bójnja)public slaughterhouse
- скотобі́йня (skotobíjnja)public slaughterhouse
- бі́йня (bíjnja)public slaughterhouse
- різниця (riznycja)public slaughterhouse
Urdu بوچڑخانہ
- بوچڑخانہ (būcaṛkhāna)public slaughterhouse
Vietnamese lò mổ, lò sát sinh
- lò mổpublic slaughterhouse
- lò sát sinhpublic slaughterhouse
Welsh lladd-dy
- lladd-dypublic slaughterhouse
Cite this entry
APA
abattoir. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/abattoir
MLA
“abattoir.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/abattoir. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “abattoir,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/abattoir.
Source: abattoir on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.