Gewehr is the German word for a long barreled firearm, such as a rifle or shotgun.
[1] Prior to the 1840s, rifled guns were not widespread, usually muzzle-loading and termed Büchse, as they are still in German hunting jargon today.
Etymologically Gewehr is related to "fighting", and so became the standard term for military-type weapons.
[2] The term "Gewehr" can be encountered in the context of 19th and 20th century military history for nonspecific rifles from German-speaking countries, e.g. in arms trade, in particular for types produced before German unification in 1871.
Specific types, sorted chronologically from 1841 to 1997 and with designer given, are: This article relating to rifles is a stub.