gunpowder

See also: gun powder

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡʌnˌpaʊdə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡʌnˌpaʊdɚ/

Etymology 1

From gun +‎ powder.

Noun

gunpowder (countable and uncountable, plural gunpowders)

1. An explosive mixture of saltpetre (potassium nitrate), charcoal and sulphur; formerly used in gunnery but now mostly used in fireworks.
   • ca. 1823, William E. Cormack, Cormack Papers, page 19/84 (note: on the annihilation of the Beothuk):

     They have been a bold, heroic, and purely self dependent nation, never having either courted,—or been subdued by—other Tribes or Europeans. But what early mind—a power—could face gunpowder and the firelocks? Hence their annihilation!

2. Short for gunpowder tea.

Derived terms

• gunpowder chicken
• gunpowder empire
• gunpowderish
• gunpowderous
• Gunpowder Plot
• gunpowder tea
• Gunpowder Treason
• gunpowdery

Translations

explosive mixture

• Afrikaans: buskruit
• Albanian: barut (sq) m
• Arabic: بَارُود m (bārūd)
• Aragonese: polvora f
• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܒܐܪܘܕ (bārūḏ)

• Armenian: վառոդ (hy) (vaṙod), բարութ (hy) (barutʻ) (dialectal)
• Assamese: বাৰুদ (barud)
• Azerbaijani: barıt (az)
• Bashkir: дары (darı)
• Belarusian: по́рах m (pórax)
• Bengali: বারুদ (bn) (barud)
• Bikol Central: ubat
• Bulgarian: бару́т m (barút)
• Burmese: ယမ်းမှုန့် (my) (yam:hmun.), ယမ်း (my) (yam:)
• Buryat: дари (dari)
• Catalan: pólvora (ca) f
• Cherokee: ᎠᏓᏪᎳᎩᏍᎩ (adawelagisgi)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 火藥／火药 (fo² joek⁶)

  Mandarin: 火藥／火药 (zh) (huǒyào)

• Czech: střelný prach m
• Danish: krudt n
• Daur: ort
• Dongxiang: hoye
• Dutch: buskruit (nl) n
• East Yugur: daari
• Erzya: толбочт (tolbočt)
• Esperanto: nigra pulvo, pulvo
• Estonian: püssirohi (et)
• Finnish: ruuti (fi)
• French: poudre à canon (fr) f, poudre (fr) f
• Galician: pólvora (gl)
• Georgian: დენთი (ka) (denti), წამალი (ka) (c̣amali)
• German: Schießpulver (de) n, Schwarzpulver (de) n
• Greek: μπαρούτι (el) n (baroúti)
• Hebrew: אֲבַק שְׂרֵפָה (he) (avak srefa)
• Hindi: बारूद (hi) f (bārūd)
• Hungarian: lőpor (hu), puskapor (hu)
• Icelandic: byssupúður n
• Indonesian: bubuk mesiu
• Ingrian: ruuti
• Interlingua: pulvere
• Irish: púdar gunna m
• Italian: polvere da sparo f, polvere pirica f
• Japanese: 火薬 (ja) (かやく, kayaku)
• Kalmyk: дәр (där)
• Kapampangan: ubat
• Kazakh: оқ-дәрі (oq-därı)
• Khmer: រំសេវ (km) (rumseew)
• Korean: 화약(火藥) (ko) (hwayak)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: باڕووت (barrût)

  Northern Kurdish: barût (ku)

• Kyrgyz: порох (ky) (poroh), дары (ky) (darı)
• Lao: ຫມຶ້ (mư), ໝື້ (lo) (mư̄)
• Latvian: šaujampulveris m
• Lithuanian: parakas m
• Macedonian: барут m (barut)
• Malay: masiu, mensiu
• Malayalam: വെടിമരുന്ന് (ml) (veṭimarunnŭ)
• Manchu: ᠣᡴᡨᠣ (okto)
• Manx: poodyr çhentagh m, poodyr m
• Maori: paura
• Mongghul: pau sman
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: дарь (mn) (darʹ)

• Navajo: beeʼeldǫǫh bikǫʼ
• Nepali: बारूद (bārūd)
• Ngazidja Comorian: baruti
• Nivkh: меутю оӽт (meuțu oẋt)
• Norman: poudre à canon f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: krutt (no) n

  Nynorsk: krut n

• Ottoman Turkish: باروت (barut)
• Pashto: باروت (ps) m (bārut), دارو (ps) m pl (dāru)
• Persian: باروت (fa) (bârut), بارود (bârud)
• Plautdietsch: Scheetpulwa n
• Polish: proch (pl) m
• Portuguese: pólvora (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਬਾਰੂਦ (bārūd)
• Romanian: praf de pușcă (ro) n
• Russian: по́рох (ru) m (pórox), чёрный по́рох m (čórnyj pórox)
• Scottish Gaelic: fùdar-gunna m, fùdar m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ба́рут m

  Roman: bárut (sh) m

• Shan: ယၢမ်း (shn) (yáam)
• Shor: тар (tar)
• Slovak: strelný prach m
• Slovene: smodnik (sl) m
• Southern Altai: таары (taarï)
• Spanish: pólvora (es) f, polvorín m
• Swahili: baruti
• Swedish: krut (sv) n
• Tagalog: malilang, pulbura (tl)
• Tajik: борут (borut)
• Tatar: дары (tt) (darı)
• Telugu: పేలుడు మందు (pēluḍu mandu)
• Thai: ดินปืน (th) (din-bpʉʉn)
• Tibetan: མེ་རྫས (me rdzas)
• Tlingit: at tugáni
• Turkish: barut (tr)
• Turkmen: däri
• Tuvan: дары (darı)
• Ukrainian: по́рох m (pórox)
• Urdu: بارود f (bārūd)
• Uyghur: مىلتىق دورىسى (miltiq dorisi), پوروخ (porox)
• Uzbek: porox (uz), miltiqdori
• Vietnamese: thuốc súng (vi)
• Vilamovian: śispuwer
• Welsh: powdwr gwn, fflamlwch m
• Yakut: буорах (buoraq)

Verb

gunpowder (third-person singular simple present gunpowders, present participle gunpowdering, simple past and past participle gunpowdered)

1. (transitive) To destroy with gunpowder.
   • 1875, John H. Kingsbury, Kingsbury Sketches, page 54:

     […] he was […] never getting into quarrels with his neighbors and gunpowdering them out of house and home. His subjects loved him.

See also

• powder burn

Etymology 2

Possibly due to its smell resembling gunpowder during the British Raj.

Noun

gunpowder (uncountable)

1. (India, informal) Idli podi/milagai podi; ground-up dry spices mixed with oil and ghee and served alongside idli or dosa.
   • 1989, Bombay: The City Magazine, page 26:

     Some restaurants try and give their dosas the "ethnic" touch by slipping along a small dish of mulaga podi-gunpowder mixed with oil as well, but that isn't always enough.

   • 2015 June 12, Priyadarshini Nandy, “South India's Spice Hero: How to Make the Famous Gunpowder”, in NDTV‎^[2]:

     It was a hardcore Andhra lunch from a restaurant famous for its lunch meals. And that is where I had my first run-in with 'gunpowder'. And to be honest, I hated it.

   • 2020 May 27, Pooja Pillai, “The Back Burner: Homemade molagapodi is easier than you think”, in The Indian Express‎^[3]:

     In fact, I’ve long suspected that the popularity of gunpowder or molagapodi outside South India has little to do with the burst of flavours it serves.