Coup de grâce

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The expression coup de grâce (pronounced /ku də gras/) (French: /ku də ɡʁas/ "blow of mercy") means a death blow intended to end the suffering of a wounded creature. The phrase can refer to killing civilians or soldiers, friends or enemies and with or without the consent of the sufferer. It is often used figuratively to describe the last of a series of events which brings about the end of some entity; for example: "The business had been failing for years; the coup de grâce was the sudden jump in oil prices."

In war times, it means shooting into the cardiac or temporal region of an already shot, but not yet dead person during a military or civilian execution. It can also refer to the final destruction of an already sinking ship; during World War II, ships crippled beyond repair were often finished off by their own escorts, or by enemy submarines. Examples include the USS Wasp, the USS Lexington, and the USS Yorktown. It can also refer to the beheading that follows a samurai's seppuku.

In a classic duel to the death, if a person is wounded and not likely to recover, a coup de grâce would be performed.^{[citation needed]}

The French pronunciation of the phrase is [ku də gras], but some English speakers sometimes mispronounce it as [ku de'gra]. Omitting the final "s" is an example of a hyperforeignism: in French, this mispronunciation sounds like coup de gras, which means "blow of fat", or "cou de gras", which means "neck of fat."

[edit] See also

• Animal euthanasia
• Euthanasia
• Firing squad
•  Audio of "coup de grâce" by a native French speaker^{?, file}