Rifle
/ˈraɪ.fəl/noun
A firearm with spiral grooves in the barrel that spin the bullet for greater accuracy; also, to search through things quickly and often roughly.
Did you know?The weapon name comes from the same root as words for carving and scratching, because rifling a barrel literally meant cutting spiral grooves into it.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*rīpaną
“to tear, rip, or scrape”
Middle Low German / Middle Dutch
Germanic
rifeln / rijfelen
“to scratch, groove, or furrow”
15th–16th Century
French
rifler
“to scratch, scrape, or ransack”
16th Century
English
rifle
“to cut spiral grooves in a gun barrel; later, a gun with such grooves”
17th–19th Century
English
rifle
“a firearm with a grooved barrel; also, to search through or plunder quickly”