What does murther mean?
Murther is an uncommon word for murder, with an emphasis on violent or brutal killing. As a noun, it can refer to an individual murder or, in older usage, to slaughter on a larger scale. As a verb, it means to murder or kill brutally. The word occurs chiefly in archaic, literary, historical, and dramatic contexts, often with an old-fashioned or sensational effect; in ordinary modern English, murder is normally used instead. Murther can also suggest secrecy or cruelty, although those connotations arise from its established historical meanings and dramatic context rather than from a wholly separate modern sense. Its survival is largely associated with medieval chronicles, romance, and other deliberately archaic writing. Although uncommon in contemporary speech, it remains useful to readers because it preserves a forceful older vocabulary and helps convey the heightened register of historical or dramatic narratives.
Murder or violent killing, especially a cruel or secret killing; in older usage, slaughter.
"The murther took place while the castle guards slept."
Archaic and literary; plural murthers is grammatical but uncommon.
To murder or kill brutally.
"The tyrant was murthered before witnesses could intervene."
Chiefly archaic or literary and normally used in the past tense or passive voice in narrative writing.
The regular plural is murthers, though the noun is now chiefly archaic or literary and plural usage is uncommon.
"The chronicles recorded several murthers among the rival clans."
Once feared as a word fit for sensational medieval chronicles, murther survives in modern English mainly as a dramatic archaism that lends an air of antiquity and violence.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of murther
The word descends from Old English myrþran, meaning to kill or murder, and continued in Middle English as murthere. It survived into modern English chiefly in literary and archaic use. Its Germanic relatives include words such as German morden and Dutch moorden, although the precise prehistoric development of their common root has been debated.
Related word forms
How murther is actually used
Murther is now chiefly archaic or literary. It may sound deliberately violent, dramatic, or antiquarian and should generally be avoided in neutral modern prose; murder is the ordinary modern equivalent.
Easily confused with murther
Murther is an archaic or literary word for murder, whereas murder is the standard modern term for the deliberate unlawful killing of a person.