Bayonet

How to spell bayonet

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce bayonet

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does bayonet mean?

1. nounA blade that can be fixed to the muzzle end of a rifle for use in close combat.
2. verbTo stab or attack someone with a fixed blade on a rifle.

Bayonet in a sentence

• noun

  The museum displayed a rusted bayonet from the First World War.

• verb

  The order to bayonet the straw dummies was part of basic training.

• noun

  Each soldier was issued a rifle and a detachable bayonet.

• verb

  Troops were drilled to bayonet at close range when ammunition ran low.

Where does bayonet come from?

Language of origin: French

This word comes from the French baionnette, a small dagger or blade, which took its name from Bayonne, a city in south-western France near the Spanish border. Tradition holds that the weapon was first made or first widely used there in the early seventeenth century, when a short blade could be fitted into or onto the muzzle of a musket. The French ending -ette was originally a diminutive, marking it as a little blade, though English trimmed it to a single -et when the word was borrowed in the 1600s. The link to a real place name is the easiest way to remember the spelling: think of Bayonne, then add -et. From the noun English soon formed a verb meaning to stab or drive forward with such a blade.

How the word is built

• bayon- (from the French city Bayonne)
• -et (diminutive/noun suffix)