The guilt or moral liability incurred by causing someone's death; responsibility for bloodshed.
Compound of 'blood' (Old English blōd) + 'guilt' (from Old English gylt, debtor); originated in legal and theological contexts to describe the spiritual/legal consequence of violent death.
In medieval law codes, 'bloodguilt' was a specific legal category—families of murder victims could demand compensation or revenge, and even witnessing a murder without reporting it could make you complicit in the bloodguilt, spreading responsibility across entire communities.
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