Wiktionary

musket

EnglishEdit

 musket on Wikipedia
 
Muskets and bayonets.

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

First attested around 1210 as a surname, and later in the 1400s as a word for the sparrowhawk (Middle English forms: musket, muskett, muskete (“sparrow hawk”)),[1][2] from Middle French mousquet, from Old Italian moschetto (a diminutive of mosca (“fly”), from Latin musca) used to refer initially to a sparrowhawk (given its small size or speckled appearance)[2] and then a crossbow arrow. The name was subsequently adopted for a heavier, shoulder-fired version of an arquebus, [2][3][4] adhering to a pattern of naming firearms and cannons after birds of prey and similar creatures (compare falcon, falconet),[2][4] a sense which was also borrowed into French and then (around 1580)[3] into English.[4] Cognate to Spanish mosquete, Portuguese mosquete.[4] Smoothbore firearms continued to be called muskets even as they switched from using matchlocks to flintlocks to percussion locks, but with the advent of rifled muskets, the word was finally displaced by rifle.[4]

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ˈmʌskət/, /ˈmʌskɪt/
  • Audio (RP)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌskɪt

NounEdit

musket (plural muskets)

  1. A kind of firearm formerly carried by the infantry of an army, originally fired by means of a match, or matchlock, for which several mechanical appliances (including the flintlock, and finally the percussion lock) were successively substituted; ultimately superseded by the rifle.
    Soldier, soldier, won't you marry me, with your musket, fife and drum.
    Sam, Sam, pick up thy musket.
  2. (falconry) A male Eurasian sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus).

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ “musket, noun.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “musket”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 “musket”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 “musket”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

DanishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From French mousquet (“musket”).

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /muskɛt/, [muˈsɡ̊ɛd̥]

NounEdit

musket c (singular definite musketten, plural indefinite musketter)

  1. musket
  2. (dialectal) A firearm in general.

InflectionEdit

Declension of musket
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative musket musketten musketter musketterne
genitive muskets muskettens musketters musketternes

Further readingEdit

DutchEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /mʏsˈkɛt/
  • Hyphenation: mus‧ket
  • Rhymes: -ɛt

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle Dutch musket.

NounEdit

musket n (plural musketten, diminutive musketje n)

  1. musket
  2. Obsolete spelling of mosket
Derived termsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

NounEdit

musket n (uncountable)

  1. hundreds and thousands, nonpareils, tiny sprinkles
Derived termsEdit

Middle EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from Old Northern French mousket, borrowed itself from Italian moschetto.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ˈmuskɛt/, /ˈmuskit/

NounEdit

musket (plural musketes)

  1. A sparrowhawk or musket.

DescendantsEdit

  • English: musket

ReferencesEdit

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