harpoon

English

harpoon

a whaling harpoon

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French harpon, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin harpaga, a rare variant of Latin harpagō, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek ἁρπάγη (harpágē, “hook”), from ἁρπάζω (harpázō, “to snatch away, to carry off, to seize, to captivate”). Sense and spelling perhaps influenced by (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Dutch harpoen (“harpoon”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: härpo͞onʹ, IPA^(key): /hɑːɹˈpuːn/
• enPR: härpo͞onʹ, IPA^(key): /hɑːˈpuːn/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːn
• Hyphenation: har‧poon

Noun

harpoon (plural harpoons)

1. A spearlike weapon with a barbed head used in hunting whales and large fish.
2. (slang) A harmonica.

Derived terms

• harpoon fork

Translations

spearlike weapon

• Basque: arpoi
• Belarusian: гарпу́н m (harpún)
• Bulgarian: харпу́н m (harpún)
• Catalan: arpó (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 魚叉／鱼叉 (zh) (yúchā), 鱼叉 (zh) (yúchā)

• Czech: harpuna (cs) f
• Danish: harpun (da) c
• Dutch: harpoen (nl) m
• Esperanto: harpuno
• Faroese: skutil m
• Finnish: harppuuna (fi)
• French: harpon (fr) m
• Galician: arpón (gl) m
• Georgian: ბარჯი (barǯi)
• German: Harpune (de) f
• Greek: καμάκι (el) n (kamáki)
• Hungarian: szigony (hu)
• Icelandic: skutull m
• Ido: harpuno (io)
• Italian: arpione (it) m
• Japanese: 銛 (ja) (もり, mori), ハープーン (hāpūn)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 작살 (ko) (jaksal)
• Macedonian: харпун m (harpun)
• Maori: haeanarāti, rāti
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: harpun (no) m

  Nynorsk: harpun m

• Polish: harpun (pl) m
• Portuguese: arpão (pt) m
• Romanian: harpon (ro) n
• Russian: гарпу́н (ru) m (garpún), острога́ (ru) f (ostrogá)
• Scottish Gaelic: morghath m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: харпун m

  Roman: harpun (sh) m

• Slovak: harpúna (sk) f
• Spanish: arpón (es) m
• Swedish: harpun (sv) c
• Tagalog: salapang
• Thai: ฉมวก (th) (chà-mùuak)
• Turkish: zıpkın (tr)
• Ukrainian: гарпу́н m (harpún)
• Vietnamese: lao móc

Verb

harpoon (third-person singular simple present harpoons, present participle harpooning, simple past and past participle harpooned)

1. (transitive) To shoot something with a harpoon.
   • 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 176:

     Pilot whales, also known as blackfish, were fairly plentiful, and Mundus would harpoon one or two, haul them out onto the beach, and butcher them.

Derived terms

• harpooner

Translations

to hunt with a harpoon

• Basque: arpoitu
• Bulgarian: харпуни́рам (harpuníram)
• Catalan: arponar (ca)
• Dutch: harpoeneren (nl)
• Faroese: skutla
• Finnish: harppunoida
• French: harponner (fr)
• Galician: arpoar (gl)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: szigonyoz
• Ido: harpunagar (io)
• Italian: arpionare (it)
• Maori: rāti
• Portuguese: arpoar (pt)
• Spanish: arponar (es)
• Swedish: harpunera

See also

• spear