AK-47

[ ey-key-fawr-tee-sev-uhn ]

noun

1. a Soviet-designed, gas-operated, magazine-fed assault rifle with a caliber of 7.62 millimeters, used for automatic or semiautomatic fire. Compare AR-15 ( def ), M16 ( def ).

AK-47

noun

1. a type of Kalashnikov assault rifle

Word History and Origins

Origin of AK-47¹

First recorded in 1947; from Russian A(vtomat) K(alashnikova), automatic gun of Kalashnikov, after Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov (1919–2013), Soviet arms engineer

Word History and Origins

Origin of AK-47¹

C20: from A(utomat) K(alashnikov)

Example Sentences

On the day before Easter in 2004, just four months into Kamala Harris’s tenure as the district attorney of San Francisco, a gang member brandishing an AK-47 rifle fatally shot a 29-year old police officer named Isaac Espinoza.

From BBC

“I used to do security for a hotel in the city centre. I was armed with an AK-47 and was tasked with patting people down at the entrance.”

From BBC

Officers recounted how the rebel “commander” instantly took control during the prison break once he was handed an AK-47 by his comrades.

From BBC

EDT on Sunday when a Secret Service agent spotted the muzzle of an AK-47 style weapon pointing out of the treeline on the edge of the course.

From Los Angeles Times

So it figures that the Secret Service reportedly found an AK-47 and a scope at the scene.

From Salon