Etymologically
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rifle

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 12:58. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈɹaɪfəl/[1]

Etymology

The verb, to plunder, is Middle English riflen, borrowed from Old French rifler (“to graze, scratch; to strip, plunder”),[2][3][4] probably from Germanic, compare obsolete Dutch rijffelen, to scratch, and Old English geriflian, to wrinkle.[2][3][5] The firearm comes from a later borrowing of French rifler, to scratch or groove, as the verb “to rifle” a gun barrel, to cut spiral grooves in it (1635).[2][6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To plunder: about 1333, before 1338 as riflen.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Word Origins traces the plunder sense via search for valuables to search thoroughly.[6] To rob someone thoroughly by searching pockets is from the mid-14th century.[3] The grooves themselves were called rifles from before 1751,[2][7] after the rifled pistol of the 1680s, and a firearm with a spirally grooved bore is a rifle by 1775 (1770 in the OED).[3][7] The spirals spin the bullet, making it fly more accurately.[3] Rifles, troops armed with rifles, is from 1843.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1333 – to plunder.[2]
  • 1635 – to groove a gun barrel.[2]
  • before 1751 – the grooves.[2]
  • 1770 – a rifle, the firearm.[7]
  • 1843 – riflemen.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A long-barrelled gun fired from the shoulder, with spiral grooves in the bore.
  2. (rifles) Troops armed with rifles.

Verb

  1. To search through something quickly, often to steal from it.
  2. To cut spiral grooves inside a gun barrel.
  3. To hit or throw a ball very hard.

Word family

  • rifler
  • riflebird
  • riflery
  • riflescope
  • rifleman
  • rifling
  • automatic rifle
  • rifled slug
  • riffle

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press