The Hello Kitty Dictionary, which contains over 7,000 definitions for simple terms for children, suffered a major mishap when an extremely graphic and inaccurate definition for the word 'necklace' appeared in its newest printed addition.

According to the dictionary, a necklace is not only a piece of jewellery, but also: 'In South Africa, a name for a tyre filled with petrol which is placed round a person’s neck and set on fire in order to kill that person.'

Look at the definition of "necklace" in this Hello Kitty children's book: pic.twitter.com/6Owkj9WyjZ

— Jonathan Meyer (@jonathangmeyer) July 23, 2014

The misprint was photographed and posted on twitter where it has since garnered thousands of retweets and responses. 

The dictionary was published by Harper Collins, who issued a statement claiming all copies were pulled from shelves and destroyed once they were made aware of the 'inappropriate content.'

A statement read: "As soon as we realised there was inappropriate content, it was withdrawn for sale. It was available in three forms and all have been pulped. It is no longer available from Harper Collins. If any are still around they are old copies being resold."