What does feticide mean?
Feticide is a formal noun denoting the killing or deliberate destruction of a fetus. The word belongs primarily to legal and medical registers: many jurisdictions define feticide as a criminal offense, typically arising when an assault on a pregnant woman results in the death of her unborn child, though the exact scope of such laws differs widely between countries and states. In medical and ethical writing, the term may describe the deliberate ending of a fetal life, for instance in selective-reduction procedures. Formed from the Latin fetus ('offspring' or 'the young in the womb') combined with the suffix -cide (from Latin caedere, 'to cut down' or 'to kill'), it sits alongside homicide, genocide, and infanticide as part of a family of words naming the killing of specific beings. Because of its gravity and its entanglement with contested legal debates over fetal personhood, feticide carries a strong, serious connotation and is rarely used casually.
nounThe deliberate destruction or killing of a fetus, especially one capable of surviving outside the womb; in legal contexts, an offense in which a fetus is killed, whether by an act against a pregnant woman or otherwise.
- The killing of a fetus, especially in a legal context where it constitutes a criminal offense.
- The deliberate destruction of a fetus, used in medical or ethical discussions.
"The prosecutor charged the drunk driver with feticide after the crash claimed the life of the woman's unborn child."
"Several states have enacted statutes defining feticide as a distinct crime."
"The court's ruling turned on whether the act constituted feticide under existing law."
The plural is rare and appears mainly in legal or statistical writing discussing multiple cases or incidents.
"The report documented several feticides linked to domestic violence."
Feticide shares its deadly suffix with homicide and genocide — all three trace back to the same Latin verb caedere, 'to kill'.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of feticide
Feticide derives from Latin fetus, meaning offspring or the young carried in the womb, combined with -cide, a productive English suffix from the Latin verb caedere, meaning to strike down or kill. It was formed on the model of earlier words such as homicide and infanticide, which established the pattern of coining terms for the killing of particular kinds of beings. The word entered English in the modern era as legal and medical vocabulary developed around pregnancy and fetal death, and it remains most at home in those domains today.
How feticide is actually used
A formal term found chiefly in legal, medical, and ethical writing rather than everyday conversation. Its meaning and criminality vary significantly across jurisdictions — in some places it applies only to acts by third parties (e.g., attackers who injure a pregnant woman), while abortion is legally treated separately.
Easily confused with feticide
Infanticide is the killing of a child after birth, whereas feticide is the destruction of a fetus before birth.