An assassin is "one who murders by surprise attack, esp. one who carries out a plot to kill a prominent person."
The etymological history of this word is very interesting. It comes to English through French from Latin, from the Arabic ḥaššāšī, plural of ḥaššāš, meaning hashish user.
Who would have thought the word for hashish user would come to signify a deadly person?
--The American College Dictionary Fourth Edition
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