Avada Kedavra

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A magic curse that kills someone instantly

noun
/əˈvædə kəˈdɑvrə/

: Avada Kedavra

In the wizarding world, the spell Avada Kedavra is known as the Killing Curse.

Examples

The Avada Kedavra curse is feared because it causes instant death to anyone it hits.
Bellatrix Lestrange used the curse Avada Kedavra during the final battle at Hogwarts.
Few dared utter Avada Kedavra aloud, knowing its deadly power in the wizarding world.
With a flash of green light, the wizard shouted Avada Kedavra, ending the duel instantly.
Harry Potter faced the terrifying Avada Kedavra spell.
The Dark Lord often used Avada Kedavra to eliminate his enemies.
Harry Potter narrowly escaped the effects of Avada Kedavra during his confrontation with Voldemort.

Surface Forms

Avada Kedavra singular

Avada Kedavras plural

Morphology

Avada + Kedavra

Both constituent tokens are nonce/gibberish with no independent lexical meanings, so a learner who 'knows' them cannot compute the meaning 'instant death' from their parts. As a fictional magical incantation with an arbitrary, story-specific meaning, the phrase is idiomatic and unpredictable for learners, making it opaque.

Etymology

Avada Kedavra may come from the old magic word 'abracadabra', with Rowling changing the sounds into Avada and Kedavra to make it sound darker. In the books the spell causes instant death, so the name now means 'to kill instantly'.