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Electrocution is death or severe injury caused by electric shock from electric current passing through the body. The word is derived from "electro" and "execution", but it is also used for accidental death.[1][2]
The term "electrocution" was coined in 1889 in the US just before the first use of the electric chair and originally referred to only electrical execution and not other electrical deaths. However, since no English word was available for non-judicial deaths due to electric shock, the word "electrocution" eventually took over as a description of all circumstances of electrical death from the new commercial electricity.
- ^ "Electrocute" from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of the English Language, 2009
- ^ "electrocute". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on January 9, 2013. Retrieved 2015-08-22.