Etymology

coup de grâce

Today it means: A final blow or shot given to kill a wounded person or animal. Full definition →

French coup de grâce
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The story

  1. French · borrowed fromcoup de grâce“finishing blow”
  2. English todaycoup de grâce

First use appears c. 1699. Borrowed from French coup de grâce (“finishing blow”). Originally referring to a merciful stroke putting a fatally wounded person out of misery or to the shot delivered to the head of a prisoner after facing a firing squad.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.