honor killing

1. 1.

   an ancient tradition still sometimes observed; a male member of the family kills a female relative for tarnishing the family image

   Broaderhomicide

Questions about honor killing

What does honor killing mean?

honor killing means "an ancient tradition still sometimes observed; a male member of the family kills a female relative for tarnishing the family image".

Is honor killing a common word?

honor killing is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.