Arquebus vs. Musket — What's the Difference?

An arquebus ( AR-k(w)ib-əs) is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier.

A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating heavy armor. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket went out of use as heavy armor declined, but the term musket continued as the name given for any hand held long gun until the mid-19th century.

Variant of harquebus.

A smoothbore shoulder gun used from the late 1500s through the early 1800s.

To shoot with an arquebus.

A kind of firearm formerly carried by the infantry of an army, originally fired by means of a match, or matchlock, for which several mechanical appliances (including the flintlock, and finally the percussion lock) were successively substituted; ultimately superseded by the rifle.

A sort of hand gun or firearm a contrivance answering to a trigger, by which the burning match was applied. The musket was a later invention.

(falconry) A male Eurasian sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus).

An obsolete firearm with a long barrel

The male of the sparrow hawk.

A species of firearm formerly carried by the infantry of an army. It was originally fired by means of a match, or matchlock, for which several mechanical appliances (including the flintlock, and finally the percussion lock) were successively substituted. This arm has been completely superseded by the rifle, and is now only of historical interest.

A muzzle-loading shoulder gun with a long barrel; formerly used by infantrymen