# torpedo

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˌtɔː(ɹ)ˈpiː.dəʊ/ · frequency rank #16,370

## Definitions
1. An electric ray of the genus Torpedo.
2. A cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel underwater and is used as a weapon.
3. A cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel underwater and is used as a weapon.
4. Synonym of submarine sandwich.
5. A naval mine.
6. An explosive device buried underground and set off remotely, to destroy fortifications, troops, or cavalry; a land torpedo.
7. A professional gunman or assassin.
8. A small explosive device attached to the top of the rail to provide an audible warning when a train passes over it.
9. A kind of firework in the form of a small ball, or pellet, which explodes when thrown upon a hard object.
10. An automobile with a streamlined profile and a folding or detachable soft top, and having the hood or bonnet line raised to be level with the car's waistline, resulting in a straight beltline from front to back.
11. A focal ovoid swelling on the axons of Purkinje cells, observed in several diseases such as essential tremor and spinocerebellar ataxia.
12. A woman's shoe with a pointed toe.
13. A large breast; a breast with a large nipple.
14. A marijuana cigarette.
15. A marijuana cigarette.

## Etymology
* Borrowed from Latin torpēdō (“a torpedo fish; numbness, torpidity, electric ray”), from torpeō (“to be stiff, numb, torpid; to be astounded; to be inactive”) + -ēdō (noun suffix), from Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“stiff”). In the military sense coined by Robert Fulton in 1805. Cognate with Old English steorfan (“to die”), Ancient Greek στερεός (stereós, “solid”), Lithuanian tirpstu (“to become rigid”), Old Church Slavonic трупети (trupeti).
* (type of car): From 1908, after "the Torpedo", a car designed by Captain Theo Masui.

## Easily confused with
- **toledo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toledo-vs-torpedo)
- **tornado** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tornado-vs-torpedo)

## Common misspellings (10)
`otrpedo`, `topredo`, `torepdo`, `torpdeo`, `torpeddo`, `torpeod`, `torppedo`, `torrpedo`, `tropedo`, `ttorpedo`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/torpedo