assassin

/ə-ˈsa-sᵊn/

Medieval Latin assassinus, from Arabic ḥashshāshīn, plural of ḥashshāsh worthless person, literally, hashish user, from hashīsh hashish

noun

  1. a person who commits murder; especially : one who murders a politically important person either for money or from fanatical adherence to a cause

  2. a member of a Shia Muslim sect who at the time of the Crusades was sent out on a suicidal mission to murder prominent enemies

noun

  1. any of a family (Reduviidae) of bugs that are usually predatory on insects though some (such as a kissing bug) suck the blood of mammals —called also reduviid