Etymology

gun

G2U1N1

Today it means: A device for shooting projectiles or ditto (a shooter), functioning through stored energy: a firearm, cannon, harpoon gun/spear gun, raygun, etc, not a bow and arrow, or slingshot. Full definition →

Middle English gunne ← Old Norse Gunnhildr ← Proto-Germanic *hildiz
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gun · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*gʷʰen-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*gʷʰéntis
  3. Proto-Germanic*gunþiz
  4. Old Norsegunnr
  5. Proto-Indo-European*kelh₂-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*kelh₂tís
  7. Proto-Germanic*hildiz
  8. Old Norsehildr
  9. Old NorseGunnhildr
  10. Middle Englishgunne
  11. English todaygun

From Middle English gunne, gonne, possibly from Gunnhild, a female given name formerly used as a nickname for engines of war (compare Nordic Gunn, a female name meaning “battle”). The name is composed of the Norse elements gunnr and hildr, both meaning "battle".

gun · noun2

Related to ganef.

gun · verb3

From gunna, from gonna, from going to.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.