how to say “murder” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רצח-1.m4a” /]רֶצַח

Recently, I posted an entry about the Hebrew term for suicide terrorist – מחבל מתאבד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רצח-2.m4a” /]. Someone contacted me asking that I change the entry to reflect that such people should be termed homicide terrorists instead. While I agree in principle, this blog is here to teach Hebrew as it is commonly spoken, so I did not adjust the entry.

However, today, the anniversary of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination, it is appropriate to study the word for murder or assassination* – רצח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רצח-1.m4a” /].

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רצח-3.m4a” /]רצח רבין התרחש לפני עשרים שנה היום.

The Rabin assassination took place twenty years ago today.

Drawing from the word רצח, a (male) murderer is a רוצח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רצח-4.m4a” /].

Likewise, a terrorist, including one who deliberately dies in the act, is called by some מחבל רוצח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רצח-5.m4a” /] if he’s a male, and מחבלת רוצחת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רצח-6.m4a” /] if she is a female – a homicide terrorist.

*While the word התנקשות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רצח-7.m4a” /] means literally assassination, רצח remains the more common word when referring to any murder, even a politically-motivated one.