Áldozat

Áldozat is a Hungarian noun with two principal senses. In everyday use it denotes a person or entity that suffers harm, loss, injury, or death as a result of an action by others, an accident, or a disaster. It is commonly used in legal, medical, media, and ordinary speech to refer to someone who has been harmed or killed. In religious or ceremonial contexts, áldozat also means a thing offered to a deity or spirits—a sacrifice. The verb related to the noun is áldozni, meaning to sacrifice or to offer.

Etymology and form: The word áldozat is derived from the verb áldozni and the nominal suffix -at, yielding a term that historically covers both the act of sacrifice and the object offered, as well as the resulting victim in secular use. In modern Hungarian the primary meanings are the victim of harm and the sacrificial offering, with the intended sense determined by context.

Usage and context: Áldozat is widely used in crime reporting, social science, and day-to-day language. Examples include describing a person who has become a victim of crime or an accident (az áldozat), or referring to a ritual offering (áldozat bemutatása, the offering to a deity). The plural form is áldozatok, and the adjective form is áldozati in contexts like “áldozati hely” (the place of sacrifice) or “áldozati állapot” (state of being a victim).

See also: Victim, sacrifice, áldozni.