Molotov cocktail

• Molotoff cocktail
• molotov cocktail
• Molotov's cocktail

A calque of the Finnish Molotovin koktaili. Coined in Finland during the Winter War of 1939–40 between Finland and the Soviet Union, and named after then-Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov (1890–1986).

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɒ.lə.ˌtɒf.ˈkɒk.teɪl/

Molotov cocktail (plural Molotov cocktails)

1. A crude incendiary bomb made from a glass bottle, either filled with a flammable liquid such as petroleum and supplied with a rag for a fuse that is lit just before being hurled, or filled with such a mix of flammable liquids that it ignites itself when it is smashed and its contents are exposed to air.

• For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:Molotov cocktail.

• (bomb): mollie (informal), petrol bomb
• Molotov, molotov

• Molotov breadbasket

D. L. Gold (1996), “Etymology and Etiology in the Study of Proper Nouns, Eponymous Lexemes, and Possibly Eponymous Lexemes”, in Onomastica: pismo poświęcone nazewnictwu geograficznemu i osobowemu oraz innym nazwom własnym, v 41, pp 109–38.