Weapon

How to spell weapon

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce weapon

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does weapon mean?

1. nounAn object or instrument designed or used to cause harm or to gain advantage in a conflict.

Weapon in a sentence

• The police recovered a concealed weapon from the suspect's car.

• Airport security scans every bag for any hidden weapon.

Where does weapon come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Weapon comes straight from the Old English wǣpen, which already meant an instrument used for fighting or hunting. It belongs to a wider Germanic family, with close relatives in the Old Norse vapn, the Dutch wapen, and the German Waffe, all tracing back to a common Proto-Germanic form whose ultimate root is uncertain. The word has been in continuous English use since before the year 1000, with very little change in meaning over a thousand years. The spelling trap lives in the middle: the 'ea' is pronounced as a short 'e' (as in 'head'), and the final '-on' is sounded like a weak '-en', so writers who spell by ear are tempted toward 'wepon' or 'weapen'. The German cognate Waffe survives in English in the borrowed term 'Waffen', a reminder that the same fighting sense runs through the whole family.

How the word is built

• weapon (from Old English wǣpen: an instrument of fighting); a single unanalysable native root with no prefix or suffix