coup de grâce

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

Late 17th century, from French coup de grâce (“finishing blow”). Originally referring to a merciful stroke putting a fatally wounded person out of misery or to the shot delivered to the head of a prisoner after facing a firing squad.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ku də ɡrɑs/
• IPA: /ku də ɡrɑː/ (hyperforeign)—Some English speakers, aware that some final consonants are dropped in French, overcompensate by dropping the final /s/ sound in grâce, making this sound like French coup de gras (“stroke of grease”). This mispronunciation is quickly becoming ubiquitous and is being popularized by the media (e.g., it occurs twice in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Volume 2).

Noun

coup de grâce (plural coups de grâce)

1. A final blow or shot given to kill a wounded person or animal.

Translations

final blow

Catalan: cop de gràcia (ca) m. Dutch: genadeslag (nl) Finnish: armonisku (fi), armonlaukaus (fi) French: coup de grâce (fr) m. German: Gnadenschuss (de) m., Gnadenstoß (de) m. Italian: colpo di grazia (it)

Norwegian: dødsskudd (no) n., nådeskudd (no) n. Portuguese: golpe de misericórdia (pt) m. Spanish: golpe de gracia (es) m., tiro de gracia (es) Swedish: nådastöt (sv) c. Turkish: son darbe (tr), öldürücü darbe (tr)

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ku də ɡʁaːs/

• Audio (FR)

  (file)

Noun

coup de grâce m. (plural coups de grâce)

1. (lit., "strike of mercy") Finishing blow.