Other forms: murderers
A murderer is a person who has killed somebody deliberately. A convicted murderer, the murderer confessed, catch the murderer.
The word requires intent, which is what separates murder from manslaughter in English law — and whether the intent was there is what most trials turn on. Murderess is dated and generally avoided. Note that the word is only correctly used after conviction in careful reporting, which is why papers write the alleged murderer or the accused before a verdict.
1nounmurdererA person who has killed somebody deliberately.
“The police are still searching for the murderer of the young woman.”
murderer is a killer.
Middle English murderere is murder plus -er, from Old English morthor. The Latin mors, death, is a distant relation through the same Indo-European root.
Middle English
murderere
English, today
murderer
From Middle English murderere; equivalent to murder + er.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA