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. 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 ailing for years; the coup de grâce which brought it to its knees was the sudden jump in oil prices."
In war times, it means shooting into the cardiac or temporal region of an already shot (executed), but not yet fully 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 and USS Lexington.
In a classic duel to the death, if a person is wounded and not likely to recover, a coup de grâce is performed.
The French pronunciation of the phrase is [ku də gras], but English speakers sometimes mispronounce it as [ku de'gra]. Not pronouncing the final "c" is an example of a hyperforeignism: in French, this mispronunciation sounds like coup de gras, which means "a blow of fat."
