Mariticide

Note: Varies by jurisdiction Note: Varies by jurisdiction Mariticide (from Latin maritus "husband" + -cide, from caedere "to cut, to kill") literally means the killing of one's own husband.

In current common law terminology, it is used as a gender-neutral term for killing one's own spouse or significant other of either sex.

Conversely, the killing of a wife or girlfriend is called uxoricide.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mariticide made up 30% of the total spouse murders in the United States, data not including proxy murders conducted on behalf of the wife.

[1] FBI data from the mid-1970s to mid-1980s found that for every 100 husbands who killed their wives in the United States, about 75 women killed their husbands indicating a 3:4 ratio of mariticide to uxoricide.