LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · femininethird declension

caedēs

caedēs f (genitive caedis)
Classical[ˈkae̯.deːs]Ecclesiastical[ˈt͡ʃɛː.des]
№ 415 of the 1,000 commonest wordsMille Verba core vocabulary

Meaning

  1. the act of cutting or lopping something off
  2. the act of striking with the fist, a beating
  3. broadlymurder, assassination, killing, slaughter, massacre, carnage
    Vīvit? Immō vērō etiam in Senātum venit, fit pūblicī cōnsiliī particeps, notat et dēsignat oculīs ad caedem ūnum quemque nostrum.He lives? Indeed, he even comes into the Senate, becomes a participant in the public deliberations, and with his eyes he recognizes and designates each one of us for slaughter.63 BCE, Cicero, In Catilinam orationes 1.2
    “[...] miserī post fāta Sychaeī / coniugis et sparsōs frāternā caede penātīs, [...].” “… ever since the wretched fate of Sychaeus, [my late] husband, [when] our hearth-gods were blood-stained by a fraternal murder, ….” (Dido’s brother Pygmalion had murdered her husband Sychaeus, a grievous act which dishonored her familial penates.)29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 4.20-21
  4. metonymicallythe corpses of the slain or murdered
  5. metonymicallythe blood shed by murder, gore

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

multōrum mors ferrō facta.
caedēs -is f — in Mille Verba, Bellum et Arma

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativecaedēscaedēs
genitivecaediscaedium
dativecaedīcaedibus
accusativecaedemcaedēs
caedīs
ablativecaedecaedibus
vocativecaedēscaedēs

Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book

ingentem caedem edere (Liv. 5. 13)
to cause great slaughter, carnage.
denuntiare bellum, caedem (Sest. 20. 46)
to threaten war, carnage.
magna caedes hostium fugientium facta est
there was great slaughter of fugitives.

caedes, is (
I. gen. plur. regularly caedium, Liv. 1, 13, 3; Just. 11, 13, 9; Flor. 3, 18, 14 al.; but caedum, Sil. 2, 665; 4, 353; 4, 423; 4, 796; 5, 220; 10, 233; Amm. 22, 12, 1; 29, 5, 27; cf. Prisc. p. 771 P), f. caedo.
I. Lit.
A. In gen., a cutting or lopping off (post-class. and rare): ligni atque frondium caedes, Gell. 19, 12, 7: capilli, qui caede cultrorum desecti, App. M. 3.—
B. Esp. (acc. to caedo, I. B. 1.; cf. cado, I. B. 2.), a cutting down, slaughter, massacre, carnage; esp. in battle or by an assassin; murder (usu. class. signif. of the word in prose and poetry; esp. freq. in the histt. in Suet. alone more than twenty times): pugnam caedesque petessit, Lucr. 3, 648: caedem caede accumulantes, id. 3, 71: caedem (the deadly slaughter, conflict) in quā P. Clodius occisus est, Cic. Mil. 5, 12: caedes et occisio, id. Caecil. 14, 41: magistratuum privatorumque caedes, id. Mil. 32, 87: cum in silvā Silā facta caedes esset, id. Brut. 22, 85: notat (Catilina) et designat oculis ad caedem unumquemque nostrum, id. Cat. 1, 1, 2: jam non pugna sed caedes erat, Curt. 4, 15, 32: caedes inde, non jam pugna fuit, Liv. 23, 40, 11: ex mediā caede effugere, id. 23, 29, 15: cum caedibus et incendiis agrum perpopulari, id. 34, 56, 10: silvestres homines... Caedibus et victu foedo deterruit Orpheus, Hor. A. P. 392: magnā caede factā multisque occisis, Nep. Epam. 9, 1: caedes civium, id. ib. 10, 3: caedem in aliquem facere, Sall. J. 31, 13; Liv. 2, 64, 3: edere, id. 5, 45, 8; 40, 32, 6; Just. 2, 11: perpetrare, Liv. 45, 5, 5: committere, Ov. H. 14, 59; Quint. 5, 12, 3; 10, 1, 12; 7, 4, 43; Curt. 8, 2: admittere, Suet. Tib. 37: peragere, Luc. 3, 580: abnuere, Tac. A. 1, 23: festinare, id. ib. 1, 3: ab omni caede abhorrere, Suet. Dom. 9: portendere, Sall.J. 3, 2; Suet. Calig. 57 et saep.; cf. in the poets, Cat. 64, 77; Verg. A. 2, 500; 10, 119; Hor. C. 1, 8, 16; 2, 1, 35; 3, 2, 12; 3, 24, 26; 4, 4, 59; Ov. M. 1, 161; 4, 503; 3, 625; 4, 160; 5, 69; 6, 669.—
2. The slaughter of animals, esp. of victims: studiosus caedis ferinae, i. e. ferarum, Ov. M. 7, 675; so id. ib. 7, 809; cf. ferarum, id. ib. 2, 442; 15, 106: armenti, id. ib. 10, 541: boum, id. ib. 11, 371: juvenci, id. ib. 15, 129: bidentium, Hor. C. 3, 23, 14: juvencorum, Mart. 14, 4, 1.—
II. Meton.
A. (Abstr. pro concreto.) The persons slain or murdered, the slain: caedis acervi, Verg. A. 10, 245: plenae caedibus viae, Tac. H. 4, 1.—
B. Also meton. as in Gr. φόνος, the blood shed by murder, gore, Lucr. 3, 643; 5, 1312: permixta flumina caede, Cat. 64, 360: respersus fraternā caede, id. 64, 181: madefient caede sepulcra, id. 64, 368: tepidā recens Caede locus, Verg. A. 9, 456: sparsae caede comae, Prop. 2, 8, 34: caede madentes, Ov. M. 1, 149; 14, 199; 3, 143; 4, 97; 4, 125; 4, 163; 6, 657; 8, 444; 9, 73; 13, 389; 15, 174.—
C. An attempt to murder: nostrae injuria caedis, Verg. A. 3, 256.—
D. A striking with the fist, a beating (post-class.): contumeliosa, Don. Ter. Ad. 2, 1, 46: nimia, id. ib. 4, 2, 19; 2, 1, 18.

Origins

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kh₂eyd-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*kh₂éydeti
  3. Proto-Italic*kaidō
  4. Latincaedēs

Proto-Indo-European *-ḗy Proto-Italic *-ēi(s) Latin -ēs Latin caedēs From caedō (“to cut down, hew”) + -ēs.

Quick answers

What does caedēs mean in Latin?
caedēs, a noun, means “the act of cutting or lopping something off; the act of striking with the fist, a beating; murder, assassination, killing, slaughter, massacre, carnage”.
What is the genitive of caedēs?
The genitive singular is caedis. caedēs is feminine, third declension.
How do you pronounce caedēs?
In classical Latin, [ˈkae̯.deːs]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈt͡ʃɛː.des].
Where does caedēs come from?
Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- → Proto-Indo-European *kh₂éydeti → Proto-Italic *kaidō → Latin caedēs.