A female person who has unlawfully killed another person with intent to harm them.
From 'murder' (to kill unlawfully) plus the feminine suffix '-ess' (like actor/actress, waiter/waitress). This follows the historical pattern of gendering nouns in English, though modern usage increasingly avoids it.
The suffix '-ess' is vanishing from English! We used to have murderess, authoress, poetess, stewardess, but now we just say 'murderer,' 'author,' 'poet,' 'flight attendant.' This shift happened because feminism made us question why we needed different words for the same job based on gender.
The -ess suffix historically marked female actors as deviant or noteworthy precisely because they transgressed gendered expectations. Male murderers are simply 'murderers'; female murderers were linguistically marked as 'murdresses,' emphasizing gender as central to their transgression.
Use 'murderer' for all persons regardless of gender. Reserve gendered suffixes for contexts where gender is analytically relevant, with explicit justification.
["murderer","perpetrator"]
Women's agency—including criminal agency—was marked as exceptional and gendered. Use gender-neutral language to normalize women as full agents of all actions.
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