prolicide

P3R1O1L1I1C3I1D2E1

noun

The crime of destroying one's offspring, either in the womb or after birth.

OriginLatin prōlēs →
First used 1823Scrabble 14
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Meanings

nounprolicide (countable and uncountable, plural prolicides)

plural prolicides

  1. uncountableThe crime of destroying one's offspring, either in the womb or after birth.First known use 1823

    PROLICIDE […] Admits of two divisions, fœticide or criminal abortion and infanticide or the destruction of the new born infant.

    1827, Robley Dunglison, Syllabus of the Lectures on Medical Jurisprudence, page 93
  2. countableOne who commits prolicide.

    Perhaps they had accommodated the foregoing statement to the casuistical axiom, non homo est, qui non futurus est, which is a very agreeable one to prolicides.

    1836, Michael Ryan, A Manual of Medical Jurisprudence and State Medicine, page 283

Origin

  1. Latinprōlēs“offspring”
  2. Englishprolicide

From Latin prōlēs (“offspring”) + -cide.

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

prolicide. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prolicide

MLA

“prolicide.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prolicide. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “prolicide,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prolicide.

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