Etymology

Chekhov's gun

Today it means: A dramatic principle that states that every element in a story must be necessary, and irrelevant elements should be removed. Full definition →

Russian Чеховское ружьё
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The story

  1. Russian · calque ofЧеховское ружьё
  2. English todayChekhov's gun

Calque of Russian Чеховское ружьё (Čexovskoje ružʹjó). The principle was articulated by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov and reported in various forms.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.