Bloodthirsty means eager for violence and killing. A bloodthirsty crowd, a bloodthirsty tyrant, bloodthirsty tales.
It is used of people who want the violence rather than merely accept it, and of stories that dwell on it. Children are often called bloodthirsty about fairy tales, which is affectionate and accurate: the older versions are considerably worse than the modern.
1adjectivebloodthirstyEager for violence and killing.
“The pirates in the story were bloodthirsty villains who spared no one.”
bloodthirsty is a quality.
Blood plus thirsty, on the same pattern as the compound in Dutch and German.
From blood + thirsty. Cognate with West Frisian bloeddorstich (“bloodthirsty”), Dutch bloeddorstig (“bloodthirsty”), German blutdürstig (“bloodthirsty”), Danish blodtørstig (“bloodthirsty”), Swedish blodtörstig (“bloodthristy”), Norwegian blodtørstig (“bloodthirsty”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA