executioner

English

Etymology

From execution +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɛksəˈkjuʃənɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɛksəˈkjuːʃənə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ex‧e‧cu‧tion‧er

Noun

executioner (plural executioners)

1. An official person who carries out the capital punishment of a criminal.
   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XX, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     He would probably have died by the hand of the executioner, if indeed the executioner had not been anticipated by the populace.

   • 2004 May 11, “Prisoners of the Caucasus”, in The Guardian:

     Underpinning that power was a reign of terror the like of which Chechens had not seen since the days of Stalin. Even the Russian contraktniki, or freelance fighters, were not as feared as Mr Kadyrov's private army of kidnappers, torturers and executioners were.

2. (archaic) Executor.
3. A hit man, especially being in some organization.

Derived terms

• executioneress

Related terms

• electrocutioner
• execute
• execution
• executor

Translations

the person who carries out the execution

• Albanian: therës (sq) m, thikar (sq) m, xhelat (sq) m
• Arabic: جَلَّاد m (jallād)
• Armenian: դահիճ (hy) (dahič)
• Azerbaijani: cəllad (az)
• Bashkir: йәлләт (yəllət)
• Basque: borrero
• Belarusian: кат m (kat)
• Bengali: জল্লাদ (bn) (jollad)
• Bulgarian: пала́ч (bg) m (paláč), джела́т m (dželát)
• Burmese: အာဏာသား (my) (anasa:)
• Catalan: botxí (ca) m, botxina f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 劊子手 / 刽子手 (zh) (guìzishǒu), 处刑人 (chǔxíngrén)

• Czech: kat (cs) m, popravčí (cs) m
• Danish: bøddel c, skarpretter c
• Dutch: beul (nl)
• Esperanto: ekzekutisto
• Estonian: timukas
• Faroese: bøðil m
• Finnish: pyöveli (fi)
• French: exécuteur des hautes œuvres (fr) m, bourreau (fr) m, exécuteur de la haute justice (fr), maître des hautes œuvres (fr), bourrelle (fr) f
• Galician: buxeu m, verdugo m
• Georgian: ჯალათი (ǯalati)
• German: Henker (de) m, Scharfrichter (de) m, Henkerin (de) f, Scharfrichterin (de) f
• Greek: εκτελεστής (el) m (ektelestís), δήμιος (el) m (dímios)

  Ancient: σπεκουλάτωρ m (spekoulátōr)

• Hebrew: תַּלְיָן m
• Hindi: जल्लाद (hi) m (jallād)
• Hungarian: hóhér (hu)
• Icelandic: böðull (is) m
• Indonesian: algojo (id), jalad (id)
• Irish: básadóir m, céastúnach m
• Italian: boia (it) m, carnefice (it) m
• Japanese: 死刑執行人 (しけいしっこうにん, shikeishikkōnin), 処刑人 (しょけいにん, shokeinin)
• Kazakh: жазалаушы (jazalauşy), жендет (jendet)
• Khmer: ពេជ្ឈឃាដ (km) (pɨcchĕəʼkhiət)
• Korean: 사형 집행인 (sahyeong jiphaeng'in), 망나니 (mangnani)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: celad (ku)

• Kyrgyz: желдет (ky) (jeldet)
• Lao: ເພັດຊະຄາດ (phet sa khāt)
• Latgalian: kāts m
• Latin: carnifex m, carnufex m
• Latvian: bende m
• Lithuanian: budelis m
• Luxembourgish: Henker m
• Macedonian: џе́лат m (džélat), гла́восек m (glávosek), гла́ворез m (glávorez), по́губник m (pógubnik), па́лач m (pálač), бе́сач m (bésač)
• Malay: algojo (ms), pertanda, jalad, pelebaya
• Malayalam: ആരാച്ചാർ (ml) (ārāccāṟ)
• Maltese: eżekutur m
• Maori: kaiwhakamate
• Mirandese: algoç m
• Mongolian: зандалчин (mn) (zandalčin)
• Northern Sami: bievval
• Norwegian: bøddel m, skarpretter (no) m
• Ottoman Turkish: جلاد
• Pali: vajjhaghātaka
• Pashto: جلاد (ps) m
• Persian: دژخیم (fa) (dežxim), جلاد (fa) (jallâd)
• Polish: kat (pl) m, oprawca (pl) m
• Portuguese: carrasco (pt) m, algoz (pt) m
• Romanian: călău (ro) m, gâde (ro) m
• Romansch: boier m, sbir m, hentger m
• Russian: пала́ч (ru) m (paláč), экзеку́тор (ru) m (ekzɛkútor), кат (ru) m (kat) (archaic)
• Sanskrit: कालपाशिक (sa) m (kālapāśika), वधकर्माधिकारिन् (sa) m (vadhakarmādhikārin)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: главосек m, главосеча m, крвник m, џелат m

  Roman: glavosek m, glavoseča m, krvnik (sh) m, dželat (sh) m

• Slovak: kat (sk) m, popravca m
• Slovene: krvnik (sl) m, rabelj m
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: kat m

• Spanish: verdugo (es) m, carnífice m (archaic), verduga f
• Swahili: mchinja, mchinjaji, mnyongaji
• Swedish: bödel (sv) c, skarprättare (sv) c
• Tajik: ҷаллод (jallod)
• Tatar: җәллад (tt) (cällad)
• Thai: เพชฌฆาต (th) (pét-chá-kâat)
• Turkish: cellat (tr)
• Turkmen: jellat (tk)
• Ukrainian: кат (uk) m (kat)
• Urdu: جلاد m (jallād)
• Uyghur: جاللات (jallat)
• Uzbek: jallod (uz)
• Vietnamese: người hành hình, đao phủ
• Welsh: dienyddiwr m

someone who executes an act or will

• Finnish: toimeenpanija (fi)
• Greek: εκτελεστής (el) m (ektelestís)
• Macedonian: извршител m (izvršitel), исполнител m (ispolnitel)
• Romanian: executor (ro) m, executant (ro) m
• Russian: душеприка́зчик (ru) (dušeprikázčik), душеприка́зчица (ru) f (dušeprikázčica), исполни́тель (ru) m (ispolnítelʹ), исполни́тельница (ru) f (ispolnítelʹnica)

a hit man

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 杀手 (zh) (shāshóu)

• Japanese: 刺客 (ja) (shikaku)
• Romanian: asasin (ro) m, ucigaș (ro) m
• Spanish: sicario (es) m, asesino a sueldo m