Gunpowder

How to spell gunpowder

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce gunpowder

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does gunpowder mean?

1. nounAn explosive powder of saltpetre, charcoal, and sulphur, used historically to fire guns and cannon and to make fireworks.

Gunpowder in a sentence

• The museum displayed a barrel of gunpowder from an old naval ship.

• A single spark near the gunpowder could level the entire fort.

Where does gunpowder come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent English compound formed from two everyday words, 'gun' and 'powder', joined sometime in the late 1300s as the explosive black powder spread across Europe. 'Gun' itself is something of a mystery: it likely descends from a woman's name, Gunilda, recorded as a nickname for a large medieval siege engine before it transferred to handheld firearms. 'Powder' came into English through Old French 'poudre', from the Latin 'pulvis', meaning 'dust', the same root that gives us 'pulverise'. The compound originally described the granular black mixture of saltpetre, charcoal, and sulphur used to fire early cannon and muskets. Because both halves are familiar words spelled exactly as they sound, the term has stayed phonetically regular for centuries, which is why it gives modern writers very little trouble.

How the word is built

• gun (firearm)
• powder (fine dry particles)