munition

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English municion,^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French municion (“fortification”),^[4][3][5] and directly borrowed from Latin mūnītiō (“a defending, fortification”),^[3][6] from mūniō (“to fortify”),^[4][3][5][7] from moenia (“defensive walls”),^[2][3][5] a word related to mūrus (“wall”), the source of mural.^[3][5] The French form is recorded for fortification about 1325 and for provisioning in 1538, and in British sources the Latin word also meant provisioning from 1180.^[4] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also compares Old English mǣre (“boundary”).^[8] The word has counterparts in Italian munizione, Spanish municion and Portuguese munição,^[4] and the phrase “munitions of war” can be compared with French munitions de guerre.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A granted right or privilege: 1448, in the Letters and Papers of John Shillingford,^[4][3] a sense the American Heritage Dictionary describes as a privilege backed by a document.^[2] Etymonline's first date is the 1530s, for fortification and for materials of war.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The English word first took the legal sense, which died out by 1461,^[4] and then from 1480 meant the act of providing something, until 1642.^[4] The French and Latin sense of fortifying or a fortification appears from about 1500 and lasted until 1870,^[4] as in the Authorized Version's "munitions of rocks" for a stronghold.^[8] Military equipment of any kind is recorded from about 1515,^[4] and Barnhart finds the plural for military supplies, especially ammunition, before 1533.^[3] Johnson (1755) still put "fortification; strong hold" before "ammunition; materials for war".^[9] The attributive use dates from 1569, and the verb "to supply with munitions" from 1579 (1578–79 in Barnhart).^[3][4] During the First World War a British Ministry of Munitions was set up, and it ran from 1915 to 1921,^[4] munitions came to mean the industry and its factories in 1916,^[4] and women in the shell factories were called munitionettes.^[5][10][11] The singular for one weapon, especially a missile, appears in a US Army manual of 1962.^[4]

Timeline

• 1448 – a granted right or privilege (obsolete by 1461).^[4][3]
• 1480 – the act of providing something (obsolete by 1642).^[4]
• c. 1500 – the act of fortifying; a fortification (obsolete by 1870).^[4]
• c. 1515 – military equipment, weapons, ammunition and stores.^[4] Barnhart has the plural before 1533.^[3]
• 1569 – used attributively, having to do with military supplies.^[3]
• 1579 – verb, to supply with munitions.^[4]
• 1915 – Ministry of Munitions, a British government department until 1921.^[4]
• 1916 – munitions, the production of munitions, or its factories (colloquial).^[4]
• 1962 – in the singular, an item of military equipment, especially a missile.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Usually in the plural, military weapons, ammunition, equipment and stores: trucks loaded with munitions.^[8][11][4]
2. A single weapon, especially a missile.^[4]
3. munitions (colloquial): the making of such material, or the factories that make it.^[4][11]
4. (obsolete, 1500–1870) A fortification or stronghold, or the act of fortifying.^{[4][8][11][9]}
5. (obsolete, 1448–61) A granted right or privilege.^[4][11]

Verb

1. To supply with munitions.^{[8][12][4][11]}

Word family

• submunition
• munitioner
• munitioneer
• munitionette

Related words

• ammunition
• muniment
• premunition
• mural

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ 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.
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins