Etymology

firearm

F4I1R1E1A1R1M3

Today it means: A personal weapon that uses explosive powder to propel a projectile often made of lead. Full definition →

English arm ← Middle English fyr ← Old English fȳr
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*péh₂wr̥
  2. Proto-Germanic*fōr
  3. Proto-West Germanic*fuir
  4. Old Englishfȳr
  5. Middle Englishfyr
  6. Englishfire
  7. Englisharm
  8. English todayfirearm

From fire (“projectile discharge”) + arm (“weapon”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.