外媒近日多篇报道中出现的fratricide一词为何意？今天，跟随FT，了解词根-cide背后的故事。

金正男在马来西亚机场身亡后，多家媒体带来后续报道，其矛头多指向朝鲜领导人金正恩。

FT在《金正恩向世界秀肌肉》这篇报道中这样写道：

From the ballistic missile test to suspected fratricide, the events of the past week reflect clearly on the aggressive nature of the regime in Pyongyang.

从弹道导弹试验到涉嫌残杀兄弟，上周的事态变化清楚地反映了平壤政权的好斗性质。

这里的fratricide正是这个事件核心词，“suspected fratricide”，意思即为金正恩涉嫌杀害兄长金正男。

fratricide:

the crime of killing your brother or sister; a person who is guilty of this crime

杀害兄弟（或姐妹）罪；杀害兄弟（或姐妹）者

根据词根在线查询网站etymonline.com的词根释义：

cide：word-forming element meaning “killer,” from French -cide, from Latin -cida “cutter, killer, slayer.The element also can represent ”killing,“from French -cide, from Latin -cidium”a cutting, a killing.

-cide，单词组成的一部分，意思是“杀手”，来源于法语的-cide，拉丁语的-cida，意思是“切割工，杀手，杀人者”。这个组成部分还可以指“杀”这个动作，来自法语词根-cide，拉丁语-cidium，表示“切割，杀害”。

因此fratricide的构成就显而易见了。

fratricide由两部分组成：frater表示“兄弟”+cide表示“杀害”=fratricide“杀害兄弟”（既可以指杀害兄弟的行为也可以指杀害兄弟的人）。

了解了-cide的意思，经过排列组合我们就可以得出更多-cide家族的词汇。比如古希腊神话中，就出现了许多与“杀”相关的词语，背后牵出不少悲剧故事。

patricide

kill one's father 弑父

希腊神话《俄狄浦斯王》就讲述了这样一个故事。在线教育平台shmoop.com上简要介绍了这个古希腊的悲剧。

The Oracle of Delphi tells King Laius of Thebes that he'll have a child who's destined to kill him and sleep with Laius's wife, Jocasta, the boy's own mother.When a baby comes along, the king pierces his ankles and leaves him on a mountainside to die.A shepherd finds the baby, though, and takes him to King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth, who name him Oedipus and raise him as their own.

德尔斐的神谕告诉底比斯国王拉伊俄斯，说他以后会有一个孩子，注定要杀掉父亲，迎娶拉伊俄斯的妻子裘娥卡斯达，即孩子的生母。孩子降生后，国王将孩子的脚踝刺破，把他扔在山上自生自灭。恰巧有个牧羊人发现了孩子，就把孩子送给科林斯的国王波吕玻斯和其王后。这对夫妇给孩子起名为俄狄浦斯，并将他视如己出。

One day, Oedipus goes to the Oracle of Delphi to find out who his real parents are.The Oracle doesn't see fit to tell him this, but she does tell him that he's destined to kill his father and sleep with his mother.Oedipus tries to run from this fate, but ends up running right into it.He kills Laius in a scuffle at a crossroads, not knowing he's his real dad.Later, he wins the throne of Thebes and unknowingly marries his mother, Jocasta, after answering the riddle of the Sphinx.

有一天，俄狄浦斯找到德尔斐的神谕，想知道自己的亲生父母是谁。神谕认为这时候透露还不合适，不过她告诉他：“你注定要弑父娶母”。俄狄浦斯想要摆脱这样的命运，没想到最终还是逃脱不掉。在一个十字路口，打斗之间，他杀了拉伊俄斯。当时他并不知道这个人是自己的亲生父亲。接着，他答对了斯芬克斯之谜，因此赢得了底比斯王国的王位。在不知情的情况下，娶了自己的母亲，裘娥卡斯达。

得知真相后，王后上吊自尽，而俄狄浦斯也自戳双眼。

这里的词根组合相信你已经猜到了。patri-表示与父亲相关的+-cide杀=杀害父亲的人（或者行为）。

表示母亲的词根为matri-，则我们可以得到：matricid ：kill one's mother 弑母 1.the murder of one's own mother 杀害自己母亲的行为 2.a person who murders their mother 杀害了自己母亲的人

-cide这个词根应用十分广泛，与不同词根组合还有不同的变体：

表示杀害亲人的词汇

suicide,selfcide

Killing oneself

parenticide

Killing one's parent（s）

uxoricide

killing one's wife

mariticide

killing one's husband

filicide,prolicide

killing one's son or daughter

表示杀害了其他的人的词汇

homicide

killing a man or any person

femicide

killing a woman

infanticide

killing an infant

ambicide

killing a friend

hosticide

killing an enemy

表示杀害动物的词汇

ursicide

killing of bears

canicide

killing of dogs

apicide

killing of bees

insecticide

killing of insects

词汇总结

destined[?dest?nd]

adj.命中注定的，预定的;去往…的

The Oracle of Delphi tells King Laius of Thebes that he'll have a child who's destined to kill him and sleep with Laius's wife, Jocasta, the boy's own mother.

德尔斐的神谕告诉底比斯国王拉伊俄斯，说他以后会有一个孩子，注定要杀掉父亲，迎娶拉伊俄斯的妻子裘娥卡斯达，即孩子的生母。

scuffle[?sk?fl]

n.扭打，混战;拖脚行走，拖步;拖着脚走的声音

He kills Laius in a scuffle at a crossroads, not knowing he's his real dad.

在一个十字路口，打斗之间，他杀了拉伊俄斯。当时他并不知道这个人是自己的亲生父亲。