carbine

noun

1. a rifle with a short barrel, orig. for use by cavalry
2. ☆ a light, semiautomatic or automatic rifle of relatively limited range

Origin: Fr carabine < carabin, mounted rifleman < OFr escarrabin, corpse bearer during the plague (lit., prob. “carrion beetle,” used as epithet for archers from Flanders) < scarabée: see scarab