Killing a person, usually someone important like a leader, for political or religious reasons.
From the Arabic 'hashashin' (hashish-users), referring to a medieval Islamic sect known for targeted killings. The word entered European languages through Old French during the Crusades, eventually losing its drug reference and becoming simply 'murder of a political figure.'
The word 'assassin' comes from stories about a specific group in 11th-century Persia—whether those stories were true or exaggerated, the name stuck and completely changed how we talk about political murder across all languages and centuries.
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