Firearms designed to be held and operated with one or both hands, smaller than rifles.
From 'hand' (Old English 'hand') plus 'gun' (from Chinese 'gonne' or from Scandinavian sources). The compound became standard terminology in the 16th-17th centuries as firearms technology evolved.
The word 'gun' possibly comes from 'Gunilda,' a female name inscribed on an early cannon, or from Scandinavian 'gunnr' (war)—either way, it's wild that our word for firearms might have started with a woman's name or a mythological war goddess!
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