fusil

See also: fúsil

English

A fusil (heraldric symbol).

A fusil (flintlock musket), 1766 model.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfjuːzɪl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle English fusill, from Old French fusel, fuisel, from a late Latin diminutive of Latin fūsus (“spindle”).

Noun

fusil (plural fusils)

1. (heraldry) A bearing of a rhomboidal figure, originally representing a spindle in shape, longer than a heraldic lozenge.

Translations

heraldic feature

• Finnish: ruutu (fi)
• French: fusée (fr) m
• German: Spindel (de) f, Wecke (de) f
• Italian: fuso (it) m
• Spanish: fusado m
• Swedish: spetsruta c

Etymology 2

From Middle French fusil, ultimately from Latin focus (“hearth; fire”). Doublet of fusee.

Noun

fusil (plural fusils)

1. (now historical) A light flintlock musket or firelock.
   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

     [H]e out of meer wantonness attempted to trip up the heels of the soldier that stood next him, but failed in the execution, and received a blow of his breast with the butt end of a fusil, that made him stagger several paces backward.

Synonyms

• fusee

Translations

weapon

• Bulgarian: кремъклийка (bg) f (kremǎklijka)
• Finnish: piilukkomusketti
• French: fusil (fr) m
• German: Gewehr (de) n
• Italian: fucile (it) m
• Polish: muszkiet (pl) m
• Spanish: fusil (es) m

Etymology 3

Alternative forms.

Adjective

fusil (comparative more fusil, superlative most fusil)

1. Obsolete spelling of fusile.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     what might else be wrought / Fusil or grav'n in metal

   • 1708, [John Philips], “Book II”, in Cyder. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 70:

     A fusil sea.

   • 1728, J[ohn] Woodward, “A Catalogue of the Second Addition of English Native Fossils”, in A Catalogue of the Additional English Native Fossils, in the Collection of J. Woodward M.D., tome II, London: […] F[rancis] Fayram, […]; J[ohn] Senex, […]; and J. Osborn and T[homas] Longman, […], →OCLC, page 91:

     Part of one of thoſe round Pillars that are commonly ſuppos'd to be fuſil marble: but not truly; this being of the common Suſſex Marble, full of Sea-Shells.

French

Etymology

From Old French fuisil, foisil, from Vulgar Latin *focīlis (petra), from Latin focus. Compare Italian fucile.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fy.zi/

• Audio; “un fusil”:

  (file)

Noun

fusil m (plural fusils)

1. rifle, gun
2. steel to strike sparks from a flint (pierre à fusil)

Derived terms

• changer son fusil d’épaule
• coup de fusil
• en chien de fusil
• fusil à canon scié
• fusil de chasse
• fusil d’assaut
• fusil-mitrailleur
• fusilier
• fusillade
• fusiller
• la fleur au fusil
• pierre à fusil

 

Descendants

• Saint Dominican Creole French: fisil
  • Haitian Creole: fizi
• → Catalan: fusell
• → Spanish: fusil
• → Portuguese: fuzil

Further reading

• “fusil”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French fusil.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fuˈsil/ [fuˈsil]
• Rhymes: -il
• Syllabification: fu‧sil

Noun

fusil m (plural fusiles)

1. rifle

   Synonym: rifle

Derived terms

• fusil de asalto
• fusil de repetición
• fusilador
• fusilamiento
• fusilar
• fusilería
• pólvora de fusil

 

Descendants

• → Cebuano: pusil
  • → Western Bukidnon Manobo: pusil
• → Ilocano: pusil

Further reading

• “fusil”, 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