Meaning

noun the act of terminating a life

noun the destruction of an enemy plane or ship or tank or missile

verb cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly

originFrom Middle English killen, kyllen, cüllen (“to strike, beat, cut”), of obscure origin. Cognate with Scots kele, keil (“to kill”). * Perhaps from unattested Old English *cyllan, from Proto-West Germanic *kwulljan, from Proto-Germanic *kwuljaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to throw, hit, hurt by throwing”). * Or, possibly a variant of Old English cwellan (“to kill, murder, execute”) (see…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0