Image: Wikimedia Commons

guillotine

Apparatus designed for carrying out executions by beheading

Instance of: execution method
Subclass of: device
, decapitation device
Country: France

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

A guillotine is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with a pillory at the bottom of the frame, holding the position of the neck directly below the blade. The blade is then released, swiftly and forcefully decapitating the victim with a single, clean pass; the head falls into a basket or other receptacle below.

Overview

All data

39 statements · 18% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Named after: Joseph-Ignace Guillotin
Has use: capital punishment
Used by: executioner
Replaces: executioner's sword
Discovered by: Antoine Louis
Discovered: 1792
Different from: Gilotyna
Uses: scaffold

On other databases

27 identifiers linking guillotine across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

18%

externally sourced

Source last edited September 6, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). guillotine (Q128015). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/guillotine-Q128015