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I’m making a comic in which I’m recreating these posters, but with aliens, instead of rats.

Now, my first thought was xenocide, but that pretty much just means “genocide of an alien species” ever since Orson Scott Card's book where I think he created the word.

But rodenticide has -i- as a connector, not just -cide so could xenoicide or alienicide show what I’m trying to say?

My question is, which one of these words (or maybe ones I haven’t thought of) most appropriately conveys "alien poison" in one word?

Thanks for the help, guys.

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Aliens in xeno- refers to strangers, not what you seem to imply ("alien species"). – Kris Dec 12 '12 at 13:50
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@Kris In scifi works, xeno- is often used to refer to alien species. – KitFox♦ Dec 12 '12 at 13:58
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A -cide is a "killer", not a poison. A toxin is a poison. A poster like that needs to be self-explanatory first, while also being catchy/ witty if possible. – Kris Dec 12 '12 at 14:09
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-icide is not a suffix; the suffix is -cide (from Latin -cida) and the stem is rodenti- from Rodentia – Mark Beadles Dec 12 '12 at 15:08
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That's why I was careful to use the term "stem" and not "root" :) – Mark Beadles Dec 12 '12 at 16:51
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2 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

"Exotoxoids" roughly fits the meaning you want to convey, and the two exxes add comic-book-writing-style memorability.

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I like it, I was just thinking of "xenotoxin" but yours seems more of a marketable term, if such a thing did exist. Thanks! – Little Big Bot Dec 12 '12 at 16:39
Personally, I think Xenotoxin has a better ring to it. – Pitarou Dec 13 '12 at 8:18
up vote 3 down vote

Personally, I don't see why you can't use xenocide. Genocide is "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group". Therefore, xenocide should fit just fine.

If you're looking for a neologism, you could use the concoction of exobiocide (exobiology + biocide). For those familiar with its history, barbaricide (barbarian + cide, not to be confused with Barbicide) might also work.

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But what I am trying to convey is a physical thing, whereas genocide and xenocide aren't. – Little Big Bot Dec 12 '12 at 15:46
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Technically, pesticide, fungicide, etc. are constructed similarly, but have evolved/been adapted to represent a class of chemicals. You can do the same with your neologisms. – coleopterist Dec 12 '12 at 15:55

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