shrapnel

The word comes from the surname of Henry Shrapnel, a British army officer who invented an anti-personnel shell designed to carry many bullets toward a target before releasing them, striking from far beyond the range of individual rifles. His surname is likely a metathesized form of Charbonnel, an Old French diminutive of charbon, meaning 'charcoal,' possibly referring to hair color or complexion.

The word began as the name of the inventor attached to his specific shell design, and came to describe the fragments such shells — and later any exploding object — scatter on impact.

The surname's likely root, charbon, meaning 'charcoal' in Old French, ties this word of war back to a much quieter word for burnt wood.