sicaire
French edit
Etymology edit
Learned borrowing from Latin sicārius, derived from sica.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
sicaire m (plural sicaires)
- (literary) hitman (someone hired to kill)
- Synonym: tueur à gages
- 1939, René Grousset, L'épopée des croisades:
- Le 28 avril 1192 […] dans les ruelles étroites du vieux Tyr, il fut rejoint par deux sicaires […] Ils lui tendirent un placet qu’il accueillit sans méfiance. Tandis qu’il le lisait, l’un d’eux lui plongea un poignard dans le flanc.
- On 28 April 1192, […] in the narrow alleys of old Tyre, he was met by two hired assassins […] They handed him a petition which he took unsuspectingly. While he was reading it, one of them plunged a dagger into his side.
Further reading edit
- “sicaire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.