musket

American  

[muhs-kit] / ˈmʌs kɪt /

noun

1. a heavy, large-caliber smoothbore gun for infantry soldiers, introduced in the 16th century: the predecessor of the modern rifle.

2. the male sparrow hawk, Accipiter nisus.

---

musket British  

/ ˈmʌskɪt /

noun

1. a long-barrelled muzzle-loading shoulder gun used between the 16th and 18th centuries by infantry soldiers

---

Etymology

Origin of musket

1580–90; < Middle French mousquet < Italian moschetto crossbow arrow, later musket, originally kind of hawk, equivalent to mosch ( a ) fly (< Latin musca ) + -etto -et

Example Sentences

A family tree hangs in the boardroom and some of the company’s oldest weapons, including a musket from 1830, are displayed in an archive of more than 1,500 pieces.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 16, 2026

Artefacts recovered from the battlefield in recent years have included lead musket balls and a shoe buckle believed to have belonged to a clan chief.

From BBC • Apr. 6, 2025

I recently discovered that if you walk around New York City while carrying an 18th-century musket, you get a lot of questions.

From Slate • May 8, 2024

There could be everyday military items like uniform buttons or musket balls.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 26, 2023

Tomorrow I will learn to use a musket.

From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone

Related Words

• carbine
• rifle