sicario

See also: sicário

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin sīca

Latin -ārius

Latin sīcāriusder.

Spanish sicariobor.

English sicario

Borrowed from Spanish sicario.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sɪˈkɑːɹi.əʊ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /sɪˈkɑːɹi.oʊ/, /səˈ-/
• Hyphenation: si‧ca‧ri‧o

Noun

sicario (plural sicarios)

1. hitman, hired killer (especially when referring to Latin American drug cartels)
   • 1992, Tina Rosenberg, Children of Cain: Violence and the Violent in Latin America, page 34:

     The traffickers created a Frankenstein's monster that gradually slipped out of their control: the sicarios.

Related terms

• sicaria

Italian

Etymology

From Latin sīcārius (“murderer, assassin”), derived from sīca (“poniard, curved dagger”). By surface analysis, sica (“curved dagger”) +‎ -ario (“-ary”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siˈka.rjo/
• Rhymes: -arjo
• Hyphenation: si‧cà‧rio

Noun

sicario m (plural sicari)

1. hitman (hired killer)

   Synonyms: assassino, killer, accoltellatore

Related terms

• sica

Anagrams

• Acrisio, Arcisio, cariosi, rosicai, siriaco

Latin

Noun

sīcāriō

1. dative/ablative singular of sīcārius

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin sīca

Latin -ārius

Latin sīcāriusder.

Spanish sicario

Derived from Latin sīcārius (“murderer, assassin”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siˈkaɾjo/ [siˈka.ɾjo]
• Rhymes: -aɾjo
• Syllabification: si‧ca‧rio

Noun

sicario m (plural sicarios, feminine sicaria, feminine plural sicarias)

1. hitman (hired killer)

   Synonym: asesino a sueldo

Further reading

• “sicario”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025