Dictionary

genocidaire en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ʒɛn.ə.siˈdɛ(ə)ɹ/ like French
• /d͡ʒɛn.ə.saɪˈdɛ(ə)ɹ/ anglicized

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁os Proto-Hellenic *génos Ancient Greek γένος (génos) Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *kh₂éydeti Proto-Italic *kaidō Latin caedō Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂ Proto-Italic *-ā Latin -a Latin -cīda Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -iusnom. Latin -ium Latin -cīdiumder. Middle French -cidebor. English -cide English genocidebor. French génocide Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusder. French -aire French génocidairebor. English genocidaire Borrowed from French génocidaire. Piecewise doublet of genocider.

Meanings

1. One who was involved in committing (perpetrating) the Rwandan Genocide.
   • 'There are thousands of genocidaires living in EU countries, with large numbers in almost every European country including the UK,' said Rakiya Omaar, whose organisation, African Rights, has worked since the genocide to track them down. 2008 September 21, Ally Carnwath, The Observer:
   • When the RPF sent him and a friend back to school in Rwanda […] his friend attacked the Hutu teacher one night, strangling him with a rope, saying that he was a génocidaire. 2011, Jason K. Stearns, Dancing in the Glory of Monsters, Public Affairs, published 2012, page 73:
   • To take an example from a clear case of genocide—Rwanda—the Hutu génocidaires did not appear to want to destroy all Tutsis everywhere, but only in Rwanda. 2019, Robert Cryer, Darryl Robinson, Sergey Vasiliev, chapter 10, in An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure, Fourth edition, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, ‘In whole or in part’ (section 10.4.3), page 224:
2. One who is involved in committing (perpetrating) any genocide.
   • But the US is completely isolated from the rest of the world in this. Somehow, Rubio in his inexperience thinks that an action like stopping the Palestinian delegates to come spares the US from the opprobrium of being a genocidaire that is complicit in a genocide and being completely isolated in this. 2025 September 2, Jeffrey Sachs, Andrew Napolitano's Judging Freedom, YouTube:
   • […] Israeli genocidaires who have the full support and backing of the racist American genocidaires against Palestine and the Palestinians. The ICC will not touch White racist American, British, Canadian, European, and Israeli perpetrators […] 2012, Francis A. Boyle, World Politics, Human Rights, and International Law, page 65:
   • What we must see, Rechtman argues, is that for genocidaires (those who carry out acts that are or approach genocide), there is nothing extraordinary, unusual, or world-historical about [their acts]. 2021, Richard Rechtman, Living in Death: Genocide and Its Functionaries:
   • Yoel Elizur recounts the testimony of some of the Israeli genocidaires: "The power they received in the army was intoxicating: 'It's like a drug you feel like you are the law, you make the rules.'" 2026, Zahi Zalloua, To Exist as a Problem: Being Black, Being Palestinian, page 127:

Forms

Synonyms

genocider