nepoticide

ne·po·ti·cide
N1E1P3O1T1I1C3I1D2E1
UK/nəˈpɒtɪsaɪd/US/nəˈpɑtəsaɪd/US/-ɾə-/

noun

The killing of one's own nephew.

Scrabble 15

Meanings

nounnepoticide (countable and uncountable, plural nepoticides)

plural nepoticides · alternative rare nepocide

  1. countableuncountableThe killing of one's own nephew.

    He was my nephew as well, so what is that? Fratricide is brothers. Filicide is sons. Nepoticide. That's the one.

    2014 June 1, David Benioff, D[aniel] B[rett] Weiss, “The Mountain and the Viper”, in Game of Thrones, season 4, episode 8
    5 more examples

    The new accusation brought by Urban against Manfred of murdering his sister-in-law's embassador – it may be observed that, tacitly, he acquits him of parricide, fratricide, and nepoticide – requires a little explanation.

    1856, Mrs. William Busk, Mediæval Popes, Emperors, Kings, and Crusaders: Or, Germany, Italy and Palestine, from A.D. 1125 to A.D. 1268, volume IV, London: Hookham and Sons, →OCLC, page 294

    [Charles] Dickens did not get to work out the interplay between these varying guardians and their various wards; and if the murder was to be a nepoticide, it remains forever shrouded by non-completion.

    1975, Jerome Hamilton Buckley, The Worlds of Victorian Fiction (Harvard English Studies; 6), Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 30

    The idea of parricide should be defined elastically enough not only to include avunculicide but to make it optional whether the youth or his father takes the initiative in expressing the antagonism between them. In the story from New Guinea, there is sexual jealousy between a father and son, and the father eventually kills the son instead of the other way around. In the Trukese story, we have an attempt at nepoticide, for the uncle tries to kill his nephew.

    1995, Lowell Edmunds, Alan Dundes, editors, Oedipus: A Folklore Casebook, Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, →ISBN, page 64

    The Injuns get to Naturmitgefuhl by the metaphor of a family: if you don't throw the roe-plump squeteague back, that is a sort of nepoticide.

    2001, Adrian Trehorse, The Last Angry White Man, Lincoln, Neb.: Writers Club Press, →ISBN, page 154

    Terms related to familicide include filicide (the killing of one's child or children), uxoricide (the killing of one's wife), fratricide or sororicide (the killing of one's brother or sister), avunculicide (the killing of one's uncle), and nepoticide (the killing of one's nephew).

    2014, Albert Lee Strickland, “Familicide”, in Michael John Brennan, editor, The A–Z of Death and Dying: Social, Medical, and Cultural Aspects, Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, pages 205–206
  2. countableOne who kills his or her own nephew.
    1 more example

    The fact that the Yongle emperor was therefore a usurper, regicide and nepoticide (nephew-killer) made compiling the Veritable Record – or official history – of his reign a most dangerous scholarly post. The official given this ticklish task managed to survive several drafts, finally producing one that pleased his master as it omitted the dead nephew's reign altogether.

    2014 September 15, Martin Gayford, “There’s more to Ming than a vase [print version: 16 August 2014, pages R6–R7]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review), archived from the original on 26 Oct 2015

Origin

  1. Latinnepōs, nepōtis“nephew”
  2. Englishnepoticide

From Latin nepōs, nepōtis (“nephew”) + -cide.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish veljenpojan surma, veljenpoikansa surmaaja
  • veljenpojan surmakilling of one's own nephew
  • veljenpoikansa surmaajaone who kills his or her own nephew
French népoticide
  • népoticidekilling of one's own nephew
Polish morderstwo siostrzeńca, morderstwo bratanka
  • morderstwo siostrzeńcakilling of one's own nephew
  • morderstwo bratankakilling of one's own nephew
Cite this entry
APA

nepoticide. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nepoticide

MLA

“nepoticide.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nepoticide. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nepoticide,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nepoticide.

Source: nepoticide on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.