Meanings
verb
- gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of behead
nounbeheading (countable and uncountable, plural beheadings)
plural beheadings
- countableuncountableAn instance of a person being beheaded.
A large crowd gathered to see the beheading.
1 more example
The guillotine was meant to humanize beheadings, but allowed the French Revolution to execute people at an industrial rate.
Synonyms: decapitation, decollation
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn instance of a person being beheaded.
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More synonyms by meaning
nounexecution by cutting off the victim's head
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Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Catalan decapitació
- decapitacióan instance of beheading
Chinese Mandarin 斬首 /斩首, 斬罪 /斩罪
- 斬首 /斩首 (zhǎnshǒu)an instance of beheading
- 斬罪 /斩罪 (zhǎnzuì)an instance of beheading
- 斷頭 /断头 (duàntóu)an instance of beheading
- 殺頭 /杀头 (shātóu)an instance of beheading
- 問斬 /问斩 (wènzhǎn)an instance of beheading
Czech dekapitace, stětí
- dekapitacean instance of beheading
- stětían instance of beheading
Danish halshugning
- halshugningan instance of beheading
Dutch onthoofding
- onthoofdingan instance of beheading
Esperanto senkapigo
- senkapigoan instance of beheading
Estonian pea maha raiumine
- pea maha raiuminean instance of beheading
Finnish mestaus
- mestausan instance of beheading
French décapitation
- décapitationan instance of beheading
German Enthauptung
- Enthauptungan instance of beheading
Greek αποκεφαλισμός
- αποκεφαλισμός (apokefalismós)an instance of beheading
Hebrew עריפה
- עריפה (a'rifa)an instance of beheading
Hungarian lefejezés
- lefejezésan instance of beheading
Italian decapitazione
- decapitazionean instance of beheading
Japanese 打ち首
- 打ち首 (uchikubi)an instance of beheading
Korean 참수
- 참수 (chamsu)an instance of beheading
Norwegian Bokmål halshugging, halshugning
- halshuggingan instance of beheading
- halshugningan instance of beheading
Polish dekapitacja, ścięcie
- dekapitacjaan instance of beheading
- ścięciean instance of beheading
- kęsiman instance of beheading
Portuguese decapitação
- decapitaçãoan instance of beheading
Russian обезгла́вливание, декапита́ция
- обезгла́вливание (obezglávlivanije)an instance of beheading
- декапита́ция (dekapitácija)an instance of beheading
- обезгла́вле́ние (obezglávlénije)an instance of beheading
Scottish Gaelic dì-cheannadh
- dì-cheannadhan instance of beheading
Spanish decapitación, degüello
- decapitaciónan instance of beheading
- degüelloan instance of beheading
- descabezamientoan instance of beheading
Swedish halshuggning
- halshuggningan instance of beheading
Turkish boynunu vurma
- boynunu vurmaan instance of beheading
Cite this entry
APA
beheading. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beheading
MLA
“beheading.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beheading. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “beheading,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beheading.
Source: beheading on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.