Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body.
Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine. An executioner carrying out decapitations is called a
headsman. Accidental decapitation can be the result of an explosion, car or industrial accident, improperly administered execution by hanging or other violent injury. Suicide by decapitation is rare, but not unknown. The national laws of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran, and Qatar permit beheading, but Saudi Arabia is the only country that continues to behead its offenders. The word
decapitation can also refer, on occasion, to the removal of the head from a body that is already dead. This might be done to take the head as a trophy, for public display, to make the deceased more difficult to identify, for cryonics or for other reasons.