# torpedo
## English
### Etymology

* Borrowed from Latin torpēdō (“a torpedo fish; numbness, torpidity, electric ray”), from torpeō (“I am stiff, numb, torpid; I am astounded; I am inactive”) +‎ -ēdō (noun suffix), from Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“stiff”). In the military sense coined by Robert Fulton in 1805. Cognate with Old English steorfan (“to die”), Ancient Greek στερεός (stereós, “solid”), Lithuanian tirpstu (“to become rigid”), Old Church Slavonic трупети (trupeti).
* (type of car): From 1908, after "the Torpedo", a car designed by Captain Theo Masui.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˌtɔː(ɹ)ˈpiː.dəʊ/
* (US) IPA: /ˌtoɹˈpi.doʊ/
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Hyphenation: tor‧pe‧do
* Rhymes: -iːdəʊ

### Noun

torpedo (plural torpedoes or torpedos)
* (zoology) An electric ray of the genus Torpedo.
** 1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC,:Faire Queene, forbeare to angle for the fiſh, / Which being caught, ſtrikes him that takes it dead, / I meane that vile Torpedo, Gaueſton, / That now I hope flotes on the Iriſh Seas
** 1790, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Men‎:The man has been changed into an artificial monster by the station in which he is born, and the consequent homage that benumbed his faculties like the torpedo's touch […] .
** 1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 286:"A childhood Misadventure with a Torpedo," Dixon, with a brief move of his head toward Mason, confides, "— thus his Sensitivity at all References to the,"— whispering,— "electrickal!"
* (military) A cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel underwater and is used as a weapon. [from 1805]
    Synonyms: torp, fish
** 1918, Edgar Rice Burrows, The Land that Time Forgot‎, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:I stood rigid, spellbound, watching the white wake of the torpedo. It struck us on the starboard side almost amidships. The vessel rocked as though the sea beneath it had been uptorn by a mighty volcano.
** 2019 September 18, Drachinifel, 25:58 from the start, in Battle of Tsushima - When the 2nd Pacific Squadron thought it couldn't get any worse...‎, archived from the original on 4 December 2022:Four Japanese torpedo boats launch an attack on the Suvorov. Despite burning steadily for several hours and now taking a torpedo to the stern, the ship still lashes out at its attackers with a few remaining guns. With no pressing need to continue the attack to closer range, the torpedo boats fall back, noting the position for a night attack if Suvorov survives that long.
** 2020, Ted Bell, Dragonfire, New York, N.Y.: Berkley, published 2021, →ISBN, page 536:And if fate should turn her back on them, or turn away from them, leaving them to their own devices, and should they find themselves be sore afraid, then they would simply sail away to the other side of the world. They would ride like the wind. They would sail once more into the breach and damn the torpedos! God save the Queen! And the devil take the hindmost!
** (science fiction) A similar projectile that can travel through space.
* (Northeastern US) A submarine sandwich.
    Synonym: sub
* (archaic, military) A naval mine.
* (obsolete, military) An explosive device buried underground and set off remotely, to destroy fortifications, troops, or cavalry; a land torpedo.
* (slang) A professional gunman or assassin.
* (rail transport, US) A small explosive device attached to the top of the rail to provide an audible warning when a train passes over it.
    Synonym: (UK) detonator
* A kind of firework in the form of a small ball, or pellet, which explodes when thrown upon a hard object.
* (historical) An automobile with a streamlined profile and a folding or detachable soft top, and having the hood or bonnet line raised to be level with the car's waistline, resulting in a straight beltline from front to back.
* (neuroscience) A focal ovoid swelling on the axons of Purkinje cells, observed in several diseases such as essential tremor and spinocerebellar ataxia.
** 2016 November 2, Lovisa Ljungberg, Daneck Lang-Ouellette, Angela Yang, Sriram Jayabal, Sabrina Quilez, Alanna J. Watt, “Transient Developmental Purkinje Cell Axonal Torpedoes in Healthy and Ataxic Mouse Cerebellum”, in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, volume 10, →DOI, article 248, page 1:In several human neurodegenerative diseases, focal axonal swellings on Purkinje cells – known as torpedoes – have been associated with Purkinje cell loss. Interestingly, torpedoes are also reported to appear transiently during development in rat cerebellum.
* (slang, chiefly US, usually in the plural) A woman's shoe with a pointed toe. [1910s]
* (slang, chiefly US, usually in the plural) A large breast; a breast with a large nipple. [from 1960s]
* (slang) A marijuana cigarette.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:marijuana cigarette
** A thick marijuana cigarette. [1940s]
** A cigarette containing marijuana and crack cocaine. [from 1980s]

#### Derived terms

* Bangalore torpedo
* land torpedo
* neato torpedo
* spar torpedo
* torp
* torpedo boat
* torpedo body
* torpedo bomber
* torpedo boom
* torpedo catcher
* torpedo cruiser
* torpedo juice
* torpedoman
* torpedo net
* torpedo punt
* torpedo ram
* torpedo roll
* torpedo stern
* torpedo tube
* Torpex

#### Related terms

* torpid

#### Translations
### Verb

torpedo (third-person singular simple present torpedoes or torpedos, present participle torpedoing, simple past and past participle torpedoed)
* (transitive) To strike (a ship) with one or more torpedoes.
* (transitive) To sink (a ship) with one or more torpedoes.
** 2013 November, Tilman Dedering, “‘Avenge the Lusitania’: The Anti-German Riots in South Africa in 1915”, in Immigrants & Minorities, volume 31, number 3, →DOI, pages 256–288:The anti-German riots which erupted simultaneously in many countries in response to the torpedoing of the Lusitania by a German U-boat in 1915 reflected shifts in the status of minorities in multi-ethnic societies at a time of escalating nationalist emotions.
* (transitive, figurative) To undermine or destroy any endeavor with a powerful attack.
** 2021 March 7, David Hytner, “Manchester United catch City cold as Fernandes and Shaw end winning run”, in The Guardian‎:The left-back had been a selection concern because of an injury niggle but his first goal since last March swung this derby decisively in United’s favour, extending their club record unbeaten run away from home in the Premier League to 22 games and torpedoing City’s sequence of 21 straight wins in all competitions.
** 2024 August 14, Aidan Jones, “Thai PM Srettha Thavisin dismissed from office by court”, in scmp.com‎:The decision (5-4) by the nine-member bench has torpedoed Srettha’s troubled government, which has failed to gain support in parliament and among the Thai public.

#### Translations
### Anagrams

* optrode, pet door, toe drop, trooped

## Cebuano
### Etymology

From English torpedo, borrowed from Latin torpēdō (“a torpedo fish; numbness, torpidity, electric ray”), from torpeō (“I am stiff, numb, torpid; I am astounded; I am inactive”) +‎ -ēdō (noun suffix), from Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“stiff”).

### Pronunciation

* Hyphenation: tor‧pe‧do

### Noun

torpedo
* (military) a torpedo; a cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel underwater and is used as a weapon

## Dutch
### Etymology

From Latin torpēdō (“a torpedo fish”), from torpēdō (“numbness, torpidity, electric ray”), from torpeō (“I am stiff, numb, torpid; I am astounded; I am inactive”) and -dō (“noun suffix”), from Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“stiff”), see also Old English steorfan (“to die”), Ancient Greek στερεός (stereós, “solid”), Lithuanian tirpstu (“to become rigid”), Old Church Slavonic трупети (trupeti).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /tɔrˈpeː.doː/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: tor‧pe‧do

### Noun

torpedo f or m (plural torpedo's, diminutive torpedootje n)
* a torpedo (projectile adapted for underwater use)
* (dated) a low-lying streamlined car

#### Derived terms

* torpedoboot

#### Related terms

* torpederen

## Esperanto
### Etymology

From English torpedo, Spanish torpedo, German Torpedo; all ultimately from Latin torpedo.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [torˈpedo]
* Rhymes: -edo
* Hyphenation: tor‧pe‧do

### Noun

torpedo (accusative singular torpedon, plural torpedoj, accusative plural torpedojn)
* torpedo

#### Derived terms

* torpedi

## Finnish
### Alternative forms

* torpeedo (archaic)

### Etymology

From English torpedo, from Latin torpēdō.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtorpe(ː)do/, [ˈt̪o̞rpe̞(ː)do̞]
* Rhymes: -orpedo
* Hyphenation: tor‧pe‧do

### Noun

torpedo
* torpedo (self-propelled cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel underwater)
* (slang) criminal debt collector

#### Declension

Possessive forms of torpedo (Kotus type 2/palvelu, no gradation) :
first-person singular possessor
singular
plural
nominative
torpedoni
torpedoni
accusative
nom.
torpedoni
torpedoni
gen.
torpedoni
genitive
torpedoni
torpedojeni torpedoideni torpedoitteni
partitive
torpedoani
torpedojani torpedoitani
inessive
torpedossani
torpedoissani
elative
torpedostani
torpedoistani
illative
torpedooni
torpedoihini
adessive
torpedollani
torpedoillani
ablative
torpedoltani
torpedoiltani
allative
torpedolleni
torpedoilleni
essive
torpedonani
torpedoinani
translative
torpedokseni
torpedoikseni
abessive
torpedottani
torpedoittani
instructive
comitative
—torpedoineni
second-person singular possessor
singular
plural
nominative
torpedosi
torpedosi
accusative
nom.
torpedosi
torpedosi
gen.
torpedosi
genitive
torpedosi
torpedojesi torpedoidesi torpedoittesi
partitive
torpedoasi
torpedojasi torpedoitasi
inessive
torpedossasi
torpedoissasi
elative
torpedostasi
torpedoistasi
illative
torpedoosi
torpedoihisi
adessive
torpedollasi
torpedoillasi
ablative
torpedoltasi
torpedoiltasi
allative
torpedollesi
torpedoillesi
essive
torpedonasi
torpedoinasi
translative
torpedoksesi
torpedoiksesi
abessive
torpedottasi
torpedoittasi
instructive
comitative
—torpedoinesi
first-person plural possessor
singular
plural
nominative
torpedomme
torpedomme
accusative
nom.
torpedomme
torpedomme
gen.
torpedomme
genitive
torpedomme
torpedojemme torpedoidemme torpedoittemme
partitive
torpedoamme
torpedojamme torpedoitamme
inessive
torpedossamme
torpedoissamme
elative
torpedostamme
torpedoistamme
illative
torpedoomme
torpedoihimme
adessive
torpedollamme
torpedoillamme
ablative
torpedoltamme
torpedoiltamme
allative
torpedollemme
torpedoillemme
essive
torpedonamme
torpedoinamme
translative
torpedoksemme
torpedoiksemme
abessive
torpedottamme
torpedoittamme
instructive
comitative
—torpedoinemme
second-person plural possessor
singular
plural
nominative
torpedonne
torpedonne
accusative
nom.
torpedonne
torpedonne
gen.
torpedonne
genitive
torpedonne
torpedojenne torpedoidenne torpedoittenne
partitive
torpedoanne
torpedojanne torpedoitanne
inessive
torpedossanne
torpedoissanne
elative
torpedostanne
torpedoistanne
illative
torpedoonne
torpedoihinne
adessive
torpedollanne
torpedoillanne
ablative
torpedoltanne
torpedoiltanne
allative
torpedollenne
torpedoillenne
essive
torpedonanne
torpedoinanne
translative
torpedoksenne
torpedoiksenne
abessive
torpedottanne
torpedoittanne
instructive
comitative
—torpedoinenne
third-person possessor
singular
plural
nominative
torpedonsa
torpedonsa
accusative
nom.
torpedonsa
torpedonsa
gen.
torpedonsa
genitive
torpedonsa
torpedojensa torpedoidensa torpedoittensa
partitive
torpedoaan torpedoansa
torpedojaan torpedoitaan torpedojansa torpedoitansa
inessive
torpedossaan torpedossansa
torpedoissaan torpedoissansa
elative
torpedostaan torpedostansa
torpedoistaan torpedoistansa
illative
torpedoonsa
torpedoihinsa
adessive
torpedollaan torpedollansa
torpedoillaan torpedoillansa
ablative
torpedoltaan torpedoltansa
torpedoiltaan torpedoiltansa
allative
torpedolleen torpedollensa
torpedoilleen torpedoillensa
essive
torpedonaan torpedonansa
torpedoinaan torpedoinansa
translative
torpedokseen torpedoksensa
torpedoikseen torpedoiksensa
abessive
torpedottaan torpedottansa
torpedoittaan torpedoittansa
instructive
comitative
—torpedoineen torpedoinensa :

#### Derived terms

* torpedoida
* torpedohyökkäys
* torpedoputki
* torpedovene

### Further reading

* “torpedo”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

## Italian
### Noun

torpedo f (invariable)
* tourer (motorcar)

### See also

* torpedine

### Anagrams

* deporto, deportò

## Latin
### Etymology

torpeō (“I am stiff or numb”) +‎ -ēdō.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /torˈpeː.doː/, [t̪ɔrˈpeːd̪oː]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /torˈpe.do/, [t̪orˈpɛːd̪o]

### Noun

torpēdō f (genitive torpēdinis); third declension
* lethargy, inertness, sluggishness
* torpedo fish

#### Declension

Third-declension noun.

#### Descendants

* English: torpedo
* Italian: torpedo, torpedine
* Portuguese: torpedo
* Spanish: torpedo

### References

* “torpedo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “torpedo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* "torpedo", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology

From Latin torpedo, via English torpedo or German Torpedo.

### Noun

torpedo m (definite singular torpedoen, indefinite plural torpedoer, definite plural torpedoene)
* a torpedo

#### Derived terms

* torpedere

### References

* “torpedo” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

From Latin torpedo, via English torpedo or German Torpedo.

### Noun

torpedo m (definite singular torpedoen, indefinite plural torpedoar, definite plural torpedoane)
* a torpedo

#### Derived terms

* torpedere

### References

* “torpedo” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin torpēdō. Compare torpor.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /toʁˈpe.du/ [tohˈpe.du]
* (Brazil) IPA: /toʁˈpe.du/ [tohˈpe.du]
** (São Paulo) IPA: /toɾˈpe.du/
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /toʁˈpe.du/ [toχˈpe.du]
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /toɻˈpe.do/
* (Portugal) IPA: /tuɾˈpe.du/ [tuɾˈpe.ðu]
* Rhymes: -edu
* Hyphenation: tor‧pe‧do

### Noun

torpedo m (plural torpedos)
* torpedo (explosive device with its own propulsion and direction, designed to produce explosions on ships)
* (ichthyology) electric ray, torpedo
* (Brazil, informal) billet-doux (note delivered by an intermediary, usually in a public place and with the intention of romantic conquest)
* (Brazil, informal) SMS (written message sent between mobile phones)

#### Derived terms

* torpedeiro m
* torpedear

#### Related terms

* torpedeagem f
* torpedeamento m

### Further reading

* “torpedo” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
* “torpedo”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
* “torpedo”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
* “torpedo”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

## Serbo-Croatian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /torpěːdo/
* Hyphenation: tor‧pe‧do

### Noun

torpédo m (Cyrillic spelling торпе́до)
* torpedo

#### Declension
## Spanish
### Etymology

From Latin torpēdō (“a torpedo fish”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /toɾˈpedo/ [t̪oɾˈpe.ð̞o]
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -edo
* Syllabification: tor‧pe‧do

### Noun

torpedo m (plural torpedos)
* torpedo (fish)
    Synonyms: raya torpedo, raya negra, raya eléctrica
* torpedo (weapon)
* (Chile) cheat sheet
    Synonyms: acordeón, batería, machete
* (Chile) prompt, script

#### Derived terms

* cazatorpedos
* lanzatorpedos
* torpedear

### Further reading

* “torpedo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10