shrapnel
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: government
military
politics
war
Etymology: From Shrapnel. Named after British army officer Henry Shrapnel (1761–1842) who invented an anti-personnel shell that transported a large number of bullets to the target before releasing them, at a far greater distance than rifles could fire the bullets individually. The surname is likely a metathesized form of Charbonnel, a diminutive of Old French charbon (“charcoal”) in reference to hair color, complexion, or the like.
Inflected forms:
form: shrapnels
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: An anti-personnel artillery shell used in World War I which carries a large number of individual bullets or balls close to the target and then ejects them to allow them to continue along the shell's trajectory and strike the target individually.
pos: noun
tags: historical
uncountable
usually
gloss: The bullets or balls from the aforementioned type of artillery shell.
pos: noun
tags: historical
uncountable
usually
gloss: Any shot, fragments, or debris thrown out by an exploding shell, bomb, or landmine.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
gloss: Debris.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
figuratively
uncountable
usually
examples: The dog ate my sandwich, and there was shrapnel all over the place from him tearing open the bag.
gloss: Loose change.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
slang
uncountable
usually
examples: I was waiting in the queue, looking at the board / Wondering whether to have a burger or chips / Or what the shrapnel in my back pocket could afford
Derived words: pocket shrapnel
scrapnel
Translations:
lang: Afrikaans
word: skrapnel
lang: Albanian
word: shrapnel
lang: Arabic
word: شَظَايَا
roman: šaẓāyā
lang: Armenian
word: շրապնել
roman: šrapnel
lang: Armenian
word: կոտորակառումբ
roman: kotorakaṙumb
lang: Azerbaijani
word: şrapnel
lang: Belarusian
word: шрапнэ́ль
roman: šrapnélʹ
lang: Bulgarian
word: шрапне́л
roman: šrapnél
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 彈片 /弹片
roman: dànpiàn
lang: Czech
word: šrapnel
lang: Dutch
word: granaatscherven
lang: Estonian
word: šrapnell
lang: Finnish
word: sirpaleet
lang: French
word: shrapnel
lang: Galician
word: metralla
lang: Georgian
word: შრაპნელი
roman: šraṗneli
lang: German
word: Schrapnell
lang: German
word: Granatsplitter
lang: Greek
word: θραύσμα
roman: thráfsma
lang: Greek
word: μύδρος
roman: mýdros
lang: Hungarian
word: repesz
lang: Italian
word: schegge
lang: Italian
word: proiettili
lang: Italian
word: scheggia di bomba
lang: Japanese
word: 榴散弾
roman: ryūsandan
lang: Japanese
word: 榴霰弾
roman: ryūsandan
lang: Kazakh
word: шрапнель
roman: şrapnel
lang: Korean
word: 유산탄
roman: yusantan
lang: Korean
word: 류산탄
roman: ryusantan
lang: Kyrgyz
word: шрапнель
roman: şrapnel
lang: Latvian
word: šrapnelis
lang: Lithuanian
word: šrapnelis
lang: Macedonian
word: шрапнел
roman: šrapnel
lang: Malay
word: serpihan peluru
lang: Malay
word: serpihan bom
lang: Māori
word: matā korara
lang: Iranian Persian
word: تَرْکَش
roman: tarkaš
lang: Iranian Persian
word: تَرْکِش
roman: tarkeš
lang: Polish
word: szrapnel
lang: Portuguese
word: estilhaço
lang: Romanian
word: șrapnel
lang: Russian
word: шрапне́ль
roman: šrapnɛ́lʹ
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: шра̀пнел
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: šràpnel
lang: Slovak
word: šrapnel
lang: Slovene
word: šrapnel
lang: Spanish
word: shrapnel
lang: Spanish
word: metralla
lang: Spanish
word: esquirlas
lang: Swedish
word: splitter
lang: Tajik
word: шрапнел
roman: šrapnel
lang: Thai
word: สะเก็ด
roman: sà-gèt
lang: Thai
word: สะเก็ดระเบิด
lang: Turkish
word: şarapnel
lang: Turkmen
word: şrapnel
lang: Ukrainian
word: шрапне́ль
roman: šrapnélʹ
lang: Uyghur
word: شراپنېل
roman: shrapnël
lang: Uzbek
word: shrapnel
lang: Vietnamese
word: trái phá
lang: Vietnamese
word: đạn trái phá
lang: Volapük
word: jräpnäl