overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

harpoon.

A spearlike weapon with a barbed head used in hunting whales and large fish.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/hɑːɹˈpuːn/General-American/hɑːˈpuːn/Received-Pronunciation
  1. A spearlike weapon with a barbed head used in hunting whales and large fish.

  2. A sharp tip within a disposable syringe, used to penetrate the stopper.

  3. A harmonica.

    slang
Where this word comes from

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

verb/hɑːɹˈpuːn/General-American/hɑːˈpuːn/Received-Pronunciation
  1. To shoot something with a harpoon.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

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

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

harpoon has 7 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

harpoon studioharpoon workshello, harpoon

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.