- grenade
- "small explosive shell," 1590s, earlier "pomegranate" (1520s), from M.Fr. grenade "pomegranate" (16c.), earlier grenate (12c.), from O.Fr. pomegrenate (influenced by Sp. granada); so called because the many-seeded fruit suggested the powder-filled, fragmenting bomb, or from similarities of shape. See pomegranate.
- grenadier
- 1670s, originally soldiers "who were dexterous in flinging hand-granados" [Evelyn], from Fr. grenadier (15c.), from M.Fr. grenade “grenade” (see grenade); later "the tallest and finest men in the regiment" [OED].
- hand-grenade
- 1660s, from hand (n.) + grenade, which at that time referred to any explosive missile.
- rpg
- by 1979, acronym from role-playing game. As an acronym for rocket-propelled grenade, by 1970.
- grenadine
- 1896, from Fr. sirop de grenadin "syrup made from pomegranates," from M.Fr. grenade "pomegranate" (see pomegranate).
- fragmentation
- 1881, from fragment + -ation. Fragmentation grenade attested from 1918.
- frag (v.)
- by 1970, U.S. military slang, from slang noun shortening of fragmentation grenade (1918). Related: Fragged; fragging.
Fragging is a macabre ritual of Vietnam in which American enlisted men attempt to murder their superiors. The word comes from the nickname for hand grenades, a weapon popular with enlisted men because the evidence is destroyed with the consummation of the crime. ["Saturday Review," Jan. 8, 1972]