Etymology

assault rifle

Today it means: A military select-fire rifle or carbine that fires an intermediate-power cartridge, from a detachable magazine. Full definition →

German Sturmgewehr
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. German · calque ofSturmgewehr
  2. English todayassault rifle

Calque of German Sturmgewehr (literally “storm rifle”). The Maschinenpistole 44 was called the Sturmgewehr by Adolf Hitler, whence it was renamed to represent the separate class of firearm it represented.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.