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murder

mur·der/ˈmɝ.dɚ/noun, verb

murder is spelled M-U-R-D-E-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables (mur·der). It appears 72 times per million words in written English, the 1,457th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, murder means “An act of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of murder is murders.

How many letters and syllables are in murder?

Letters6: M-U-R-D-E-R
Syllables2: mur·der
In writing72 times per million words; the 1,457th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is murder?

Murder appears 72 times per million words in written English, the 1,457th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce murder?

  • UK /ˈmɜːdə(ɹ)/
  • US /ˈmɝ.dɚ/

Murder has 2 syllables, split mur·der in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-murder.wav, En-us-murder.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-murder.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with murder?

3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as murder from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹdəɹ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: redrum.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of murder

  • murders plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • murdering participle, present
  • murdered participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does murder mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    An act of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination.

    Throwing that punch was a murder whether you meant for it to happen or not.

  2. 2

    The crime of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination.

    The defendant was charged with murder.

  3. 3

    Short for felony murder, the act of committing or abetting a crime that results in the killing of a person, regardless of intent, even if the perpetrator did not directly kill the victim.

    Both the arsonist and her partner were charged with murder, even though they had intended for it to be a victimless crime.

  4. 4

    The act of killing any being in an immoral manner; (countable) an instance of this.

    Meat is murder.

  5. 5

    nonstandardSynonym of murderer , a person who has unlawfully killed another.

  6. 6

    Something difficult or terrible to endure.

    I heard this class is murder.

  7. 7

    datedslangSomething remarkable or impressive.

  8. 8

    A flock of crows or sometimes ravens.

    A murder of crows dotted my backyard.

verb

  1. 1

    To illegally kill (a person or persons) with intent, especially with predetermination

    The woman found dead in her kitchen was murdered by her husband.

  2. 2

    colloquialTo kill violently.

    My uncle’s dog murdered my cat.

  3. 3

    colloquialTo defeat decisively.

    Our team is going to murder them.

  4. 4

    colloquialTo kick someone's ass or chew someone out (used to express one’s anger at somebody).

    He's torn my best shirt. When I see him, I'll murder him!

  5. 5

    To botch or mangle.

  6. 6

    UKcolloquialTo devour, ravish.

    I could murder a hamburger right now.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Murder in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmeurtre, homicide volontaire (an act of deliberate killing), assassinat (the crime of deliberate killing), occire, meurtrir, assassiner (deliberately kill)
GermanMord (an act of deliberate killing), ermorden (deliberately kill), mörderisch (terrible to endure), massakrieren (defeat decisively), umbringen (express one’s anger at)
Portugueseassassínio, homicídio, assassinato (an act of deliberate killing), assassinar (deliberately kill), detonar, massacrar (defeat decisively)
Spanishasesinato (an act of deliberate killing), asesinar, victimar (deliberately kill), cepillarse, ventilarse, aplastar (defeat decisively)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does murder come from?

From Middle English murder, murdre, mourdre, alteration of earlier murthre (“murder”) (see murther), from Old English morþor (“secret slaying, unlawful killing”) and Old English myrþra (“murder, homicide”), both from Proto-West Germanic *morþr, from Proto-Germanic *murþrą (“death, killing, murder”), from Proto-Indo-European *mr̥tro- (“killing”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer-, *mor-, *mr̥- (“to die”). Akin to Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌸𐍂 (maurþr, “murder”), Old High German mord (“murder”), Old Norse morð (“murder”), Old English myrþrian (“to murder”) and morþ.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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