Word.ws English Dictionary

Christ-killer

/ˈkraɪs(t)ˌkɪlə(r)/

Christ-killer noun: a Jew.

Noun

Christ-killer (plural Christ-killers)

  1. (ethnic, offensive, slur) A Jew.
    • Sometimes, when a Jew chanced to visit it some of its boys would descend upon him with shouts of "Damned Jew!" "Christ-killer!" and sick their dogs at him.1917, Abraham Cahan, The Rise of David Levinsky, A Novel, page 9
  2. (dated, obsolete, offensive) One who is considered to have spoken or acted against the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Forms of Christ-killer

pluralChrist-killers
alternative formChrist killer
alternative formChristkiller

Origin of Christ-killer

From Christ + killer. First use appears c. 1532 in the publications of Saint Thomas More. The first sense derives from the belief that Jews were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as told in the Bible.

Questions about Christ-killer

What does Christ-killer mean?
Christ-killer means a Jew.
What part of speech is Christ-killer?
Christ-killer is a noun.
How do you pronounce Christ-killer?
Christ-killer is pronounced /ˈkraɪs(t)ˌkɪlə(r)/.
What is the plural of Christ-killer?
The plural of Christ-killer is Christ-killers.

Words near Christ-killer in the dictionary

  1. Christ's thorn
  2. Christ's thorns
  3. Christ-child
  4. christ-cross
  5. Christ-cross-row
  6. Christ-killer
  7. Christ-killers
  8. Christ-mas
  9. Christ-worshipper
  10. Christ-worshippers
  11. Christa

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Christ-killer (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: christ-killer.wav.

Cite this entry: “Christ-killer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/christ-killer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.