Etymology

grapnel

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Today it means: A small anchor, having more than two flukes, used for anchoring a small vessel. Full definition →

Middle English grapnel ← Old French grapil
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The story

  1. Old French · derived fromgrapil
  2. Middle English · inherited fromgrapnel
  3. English todaygrapnel

From Middle English grapnel, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French grapil, grapin. Compare modern French grappin.

Words from the same roots

Old Frenchgrapil all →

graplin

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.