shrapnel

Meaning

Noun

• An anti-personnel artillery shell used in WWI which carries a large number of individual bullets close to the target and then ejects them to allow them to continue along the shell's trajectory and strike the target individually.
• A collective term for shot, fragments, or debris thrown out by an exploding shell, bomb or landmine.
• Loose change.
• Debris.

Origin

• who invented an anti-personnel shell that transported a large number of bullets to the target before releasing them, at a far greater distance than rifles could fire the bullets individually. The surname is likely a metathesis form of Charbonnel, a diminutive of Old French charbon in reference to hair color, complexion, or the like.