How to say "massacre" in Japanese

• 虐殺ぎゃくさつCommon
  noun, suru verb, transitive verbThe word you will usually want for 'massacre' as an event: the brutal, cruel killing of large numbers of people, as in historical atrocities.
  将軍しょうぐんは捕虜ほりょ全員ぜんいんの虐殺ぎゃくさつを命めいじた。↗

  The general ordered the massacre of all war prisoners.
• 皆殺しみなごろしCommon
  nounEmphasizes totality: killing every member of a group so that no one is left alive; closer to 'annihilation' or 'wholesale slaughter' than to a massacre as a historical event.
• 殺戮さつりくCommon
  noun, suru verb, transitive verbA forceful word for indiscriminate slaughter: the killing of many people as bloody carnage, as in war or other unchecked violence.
  新任しんにんの大使たいしは休戦きゅうせんを推し進おしすすめて、これ以上いじょうの殺さつりくを終おわらせるでしょう。↗

  The new ambassador will push for a cease-fire to stop the killing.
• 惨殺ざんさつCommon
  noun, suru verb, transitive verbFocuses on the cruelty of the killing rather than the number of victims: it really means murdering someone in a horrifically brutal way, so it is seldom the word for a large-scale massacre.

Use 虐殺 for the brutal killing of large numbers of people, 「皆殺し」 when a whole group is wiped out, 殺戮 for graphic indiscriminate carnage, and 惨殺 only for cruelly murdering a victim rather than mass killing.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• 虐殺ぎゃくさつslaughter
• 皆殺しみなごろしmassacre
• 殺戮さつりくslaughter
• 惨殺ざんさつslaughter
• 大虐殺だいぎゃくさつmassacre
• 鏖殺おうさつmassacre
• 大量虐殺たいりょうぎゃくさつmassacre
• 屠るほふるto slaughter
• 血浴けつよくbloodbath