# suicide

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈs(j)uːɪˌsaɪd/ · frequency rank #2,409

## Definitions
1. The act of intentionally killing oneself.
2. A particular instance of a person intentionally killing oneself, or of multiple people doing so.
3. A person who has intentionally killed themself.
4. An action that could cause the literal or figurative death of a person or organization, although death is not the aim of the action.
5. A beverage combining all available flavors at a soda fountain.
6. A diabolo trick where one of the sticks is released and allowed to rotate 360° round the diabolo until it is caught by the hand that released it.
7. A run comprising a series of sprints of increasing lengths, each followed immediately by a return to the start, with no pause between one sprint and the next.
8. A children's game of throwing a ball against a wall and at other players, who are eliminated by being struck.
9. Pertaining to a suicide bombing.

## Etymology
First attested in Thomas Browne's Religio Medici (1643) in noun sense 1, ostensibly from New Latin suīcīdium, from suī (genitive reflexive pronoun) + -cīdium (“act of killing or murder”), but often believed to have originated in English before entering Latin. Displaced native Middle English seolf-cwale from Old English selfcwalu (literally “self-slaughter”), after which suicide may have been modelled, or calqued (compare manuscript). Noun sense 3 is perhaps by analogy with words like homicide, patricide (see -cide), or, although unlikely, from Medieval Latin suīcīda; see the Etymology section at suīcīdium.

## Easily confused with
- **sulfide** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/suicide-vs-sulfide)
- **subside** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/subside-vs-suicide)
- **suicidal** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/suicidal-vs-suicide)

## Common misspellings (9)
`siucide`, `ssuicide`, `suciide`, `suiccide`, `suicdie`, `suicidde`, `suicied`, `suiicde`, `usicide`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/suicide