gunpowder

Etymology

It is formed from English gun + powder,^[2][3][4][5] first as Middle English gonne-poudre.^[6][7] The OED compares the earlier use of the second element alone for gunpowder, the Anglo-Norman phrase poudre pur gunnes (before 1399) and the rare gonnepoudre (before 1407), taken from English, as well as British Latin pulvis gunnorum (1387).^[2] Gun, Middle English gonne, is apparently short for a woman's name, from Old Norse Gunnhildr,^[8][3] and powder is from Old French poudre, from Latin pulvis (“dust, powder”).^[8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An explosive powder of saltpetre, sulphur and charcoal: 1400, in an English record of gonne poudre,^[6][2] early 15th century in Etymonline.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From 1593 the word was used figuratively of something, or someone, volatile and likely to explode.^[2] From 1604, in Middleton, it was used as an adjective for a fiery, short-tempered person or utterance;^[2] Green's Dictionary of Slang notes that Shakespeare described an irascible character as "gunpowder Percy" in Henry IV, Part 1.^[9] In thieves' slang from about 1698 gunpowder was an old woman, later a scolding or quick-tempered one,^[9] and in the 18th century a fiery drink, probably gin, a use revived in Black American slang.^[9][2] From 1785 it was short for gunpowder tea, a fine green tea.^[2][10] From 1702 it named a dark, later bluish-grey colour.^[2] In Surrey the black alder was called gunpowder-wood.^[10] Johnson (1755) gave its make-up as about twenty parts of nitre to three of sulphur and three of charcoal.^[5] The Gunpowder Plot was the plan to blow up the Houses of Parliament on 5 November 1605.^[3] The verb, to blow up with gunpowder, is recorded from 1839.^[2]

Timeline

• 1400 – an explosive powder used in guns.^[2][6]
• 1593 – figuratively, something volatile or explosive.^[2]
• 1604 – adjective, fiery, short-tempered.^[2]
• c. 1698 – slang, an old woman.^[9]
• 1702 – a dark colour like that of gunpowder.^[2]
• 1756 – slang, a fiery drink.^[2][9]
• 1785 – gunpowder tea.^[2]
• 1839 – verb, to blow up with gunpowder.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An explosive mixture of saltpetre, charcoal and sulphur, used as a propellant in guns and in fireworks, fuses and blasting; black powder.^[11][7][2]
2. Something or someone likely to cause sudden trouble: The rumour was gunpowder in a divided town.^[2]
3. Gunpowder tea, a fine green tea rolled into small pellets.^[2][4]

Adjective

1. Fiery or irascible in temper.^[2]

Word family

• gunpowdery
• Gunpowder Plot
• gunpowder tea

Related words

• gun
• powder
• pulverize

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
6. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
10. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins