Word coined in 1943 by the Jewish historian Raphael Lemkin to describe the atrocities commited against the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. It is coined from the root words genos (
Greek for family, tribe or race) and -cide (Latin for killing). He first used the word in print in Axis Rule in Occupied
Europe: Laws of Occupation - Analysis of
Government - Proposals for Redress (1944).