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In the early era of firearms, cannons of lesser size such as the falconet were sometimes named for birds of prey. Following this pattern, Italians applied moschetto or moschetta, meaning "sparrow hawk," to a small-caliber piece of ordnance in the 16th century. Spaniards borrowed this word as mosquete, and the French as mosquet, but both applied it to a heavy shoulder firearm rather than a cannon; English musket was borrowed soon thereafter from French. The word musket was retained after the original matchlock firing mechanism was replaced by a wheel lock, and retained still after the wheel lock was replaced by the flintlock. As the practice of rifling firearms—incising the barrel with spiral grooves to improve the bullet's accuracy—became more common, the term musket gradually gave way to the newer word rifle in the 18th century.
Examples of musket in a Sentence
Lincee Ray, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Apr. 2026
This clandestine supply chain eventually provided thousands of muskets, field artillery and millions of pounds of gunpowder that made possible the 1777 victory at Saratoga and France’s subsequent formal alliance.
—Christopher Magra, The Conversation, 7 Apr. 2026
Below, the Indians attacked the two men with musket fire and arrows.
—Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 6 Apr. 2026
The cannonball joins over 250,000 artifacts found at the site, the expert added, which mostly include ceramic pieces, musket balls, adobe floor fragments and glass bottles.
—Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 3 Apr. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Musket.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/musket. Accessed 18 Apr. 2026.
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musket
noun
