suicide note

English

Noun

suicide note (plural suicide notes)

1. A message, usually a written note, left by someone who later attempts or commits suicide, usually explaining the reason for the suicide.
   • 1938, Ellery Queen, The Four of Hearts:

     Park left a suicide note to efface his trail and vanished - to turn up here the next day as Bonnie's grandfather.

   • 1950, Elliot Paul, Springtime in Paris, page 285:

     Twice I bought barbiturate pills, enough to finish anyone, and once I wrote a suicide note.

   • 2004, Edwin S. Shneidman, Autopsy of a Suicidal Mind, page 8:

     In any event, in this round-robin of personal memories, this prolix suicide note is as close to a catamnestic report — that is, a patient history from Arthur himself as we are able to get.

Translations

message left by a suicide

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 遺書 / 遗书 (zh) (yíshū)

• Dutch: zelfmoordbrief (nl) m
• Finnish: itsemurhaviesti (fi)
• French: lettre d’adieu f
• German: Abschiedsbrief (de) m
• Hungarian: búcsúlevél (hu)
• Italian: lettera d'addio f
• Japanese: 遺書 (ja) (いしょ, isho)
• Polish: list pożegnalny m
• Russian: предсме́ртная запи́ска f (predsmértnaja zapíska)
• Swedish: självmordsbrev (sv) n
• Turkish: intihar notu

Further reading

• suicide note on Wikipedia.Wikipedia