Etymology

rifleman

rif·le·man
R1I1F4L1E1M3A1N1

Today it means: A soldier trained to use a rifle as a primary weapon. Full definition →

Middle English man ← Old English mann ← Proto-West Germanic *mann
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁reyp-
  2. Proto-Germanic*rīfaną
  3. Proto-Germanic*rīfilōną
  4. Proto-West Germanic*rīfilōn
  5. Frankish*rīffilōn
  6. Old Frenchrifler
  7. Middle Englishriflen
  8. Englishrifle
  9. Proto-Indo-European*mon-
  10. Proto-Germanic*mann-
  11. Proto-West Germanic*mann
  12. Old Englishmann
  13. Middle Englishman
  14. English todayrifleman

From rifle + -man.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.