Word.ws English Dictionary

rapier

/ˈɹeɪpˌɪə(ɹ)/

rapier noun: a slender, straight, sharply pointed sword (double-edged, single-edged or edgeless), designed predominantly for thrusting; used during the Renaissance period of Europe for civilian duelling. Also the comparative form of rapey.

rapier: a slender, straight, sharply pointed sword (double-edged, single-edged or edgeless), designed...
Image: Rama, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

rapier (plural rapiers)

  1. A slender, straight, sharply pointed sword (double-edged, single-edged or edgeless), designed predominantly for thrusting; used during the Renaissance period of Europe for civilian duelling
    • […] In his lawless fit,
      Behind the arras hearing something stir,
      Whips out his rapier, cries ‘A rat, a rat!’
      And in this brainish apprehension kills
      The unseen good old man.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
    • The man beside him with the earrings and the big black case proceeded to unlock it. He took out of it two long Italian rapiers, with splendid steel hilts and blades, which he planted point downwards in the lawn.1911, G. K. Chesterton, “The Sins of Prince Saradine”, in The Innocence of Father Brown

Adjective

rapier (not comparable)

  1. Extremely sharp.
  2. Cutting; employing keen wit.
    • John is very quick on his feet during interviews by using his rapier responses.

Proper noun capitalized: Rapier

Rapier (plural Rapiers)

  1. A surname.

Also used as

rapier is also the comparative form of rapey.

rapier meaning in Marathi and Arabic

rapier in Marathi

slender straight sharply pointed sword
रेपियर repiyar

rapier in Arabic

slender straight sharply pointed sword
سَيْفٌ ذُو حَدَّيْن sayfun ḏū ḥaddayn, سَيْفُ الْمُبَارَزَة sayfu l-mubāraza, مِغْوَل miḡwal

Forms of rapier

Noun
pluralrapiers
Proper noun
pluralRapiers

Plural of rapier: rapiers

Origin of rapier

Borrowed from Middle French rapiere, from Middle French (espee) rapiere, from Old French rapiere, raspiere, from Spanish raspadera (“poker; raker; scraper”), from Spanish raspar (“to scrape”), of Germanic origin. More at rasp.

Words formed from rapier

Questions about rapier

What does rapier mean?
Rapier means a slender, straight, sharply pointed sword (double-edged, single-edged or edgeless), designed predominantly for thrusting; used during the Renaissance period of Europe for civilian duelling.
What is rapier in Marathi?
Rapier in Marathi is रेपियर (repiyar). See Rapier meaning in Marathi.
What part of speech is rapier?
Rapier can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce rapier?
Rapier is pronounced /ˈɹeɪpˌɪə(ɹ)/ (UK).
What is the plural of rapier?
The plural of rapier is rapiers.

Words near rapier in the dictionary

  1. rapidograph
  2. rapidographs
  3. rapids
  4. rapidway
  5. rapidways
  6. rapier
  7. rapier-fish
  8. rapiered
  9. rapierlike
  10. rapiers
  11. rapiest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rapier (page history and authors); Rapier (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-rapier.wav.

Cite this entry: “rapier.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rapier. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.