'assassinate' originates from Middle French, specifically the word 'assassiner', where the root came via Italian from an Arabic term.

'assassinate' changed from the Middle French word 'assassiner', which in turn was influenced by Italian 'assassinare' and earlier by the noun 'assassin'; all of these trace back to Arabic.

Initially, it referred to members of a group associated with the Arabic term (literally 'hashish users'), but over time it evolved into the specific meaning 'to murder a prominent person (often for political reasons)'.