Kalashnikov is commonly used to refer to a type of rifle, but it and similar words also have other meanings:

People

• Mikhail Kalashnikov
  Mikhail Kalashnikov
  Lieutenant General Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov is a Russian small arms designer, most famous for designing the AK-47 assault rifle, the AKM and the AK-74.-Early life:...
  
   (born 1919), Russian small arms designer
• Maxim Kalashnikov
  Maxim Kalashnikov
  Vladimir Alexandrovich Kucherenko , better known by the pen name Maxim Kalashnikov , is a Russian patriotic writer, publicist, and political activist....
  
   (born 1966), Russian writer and political activist
• Viktor Kalashnikov
  Viktor Kalashnikov
  Viktor Kalashnikov is a Russian freelance journalist and a former KGB colonel. In the autumn of 2010, he and his wife were treated in hospital in Germany for mercury poisoning in what they said had been an attempt on their lives by Russia's FSB, the successor to the KGB...
  
  , Russian journalist and ex-KGB officer
• Oksana Kalashnikova
  Oksana Kalashnikova
  Oksana Vyacheslavovna Kalashnikova Russian : Оксана Вячеславовна Калашникова is a professional Georgian tennis player playing in the ITF Women's Circuit. On June 7, 2010, she reached her highest WTA singles ranking of 156. On June 7, 2010, she reached her highest WTA doubles ranking of 110.She is...
  
  , a professional Georgian tennis player playing in the ITF Women's Circuit
• Marina Kalashnikova
  Marina Kalashnikova
  Marina Kalashnikova is a Russian historian and freelance journalist. In 2010 she and her ex-KGB agent husband were treated in hospital in Germany for mercury poisoning in what they have said was an attempt on their life by Russia's FSB, the successor to the KGB...
  
  , a Russian historian and freelance journalist

Creative works

• The Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov
  The Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov
  A Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevish, the Young Oprichnik, and the Valorous Merchant Kalashnikov, often abbreviated as The Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov, is a poem by Mikhail Lermontov written in 1837 and first published in 1838....
  
  , poem by Mikhail Lermontov
  • The Merchant Kalashnikov
    The Merchant Kalashnikov (opera)
    The Merchant Kalashnikov is a three-act opera by Anton Rubinstein, with a libretto by Nikolai Kulikov. It is based on The Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov by Mikhail Lermontov.-Background:...
    
    , opera by Anton Rubinstein
    Anton Rubinstein
    Anton Grigorevich Rubinstein was a Russian-Jewish pianist, composer and conductor. As a pianist he was regarded as a rival of Franz Liszt, and he ranks amongst the great keyboard virtuosos...
    
    , based on Lermontov's poem
  • Song About the Merchant Kalashnikov (film)
    Song About the Merchant Kalashnikov (film)
    Song About the Merchant Kalashnikov is a 1909 Russian silent film directed by Vasily Goncharov. The film is believed to be lost.-Plot:The film was loosely based on the eponymous poem by Mikhail Lermontov and consisted of four scenes: the feast at the court of Ivan the Terrible, the assault of...
    
    , a 1909 Russian film by Vasily Goncharov, based on Lermontov's poem
• Kalasnjikov a song from the soundtrack to Emir Kusturica's film Underground

Others

• Kalashnikov (Danish band), Danish punk band of the 1980s
• Kalashnikov (band)
  Kalashnikov (band)
  Kalashnikov is a romantic punk band from Milan, Italy, active since 1996. Kalashnikov is a "do it yourself" collective.-Current:* Milena * Puj * Sarta * Nino * Rissa * Don Suragn...
  
  , Italian punk band of the 1990s onward
• The Kalashnikov Variation, a chess variation
• Kalashnikov vodka, a brand after Mikhail Kalashnikov, launched in 2004http://www.vodkakalashnikov.com/home.htm
• Kalashnikov (drink), a type of cocktail

Etymology

It represents Russian Калашников, a sandhi

Sandhi

Sandhi is a cover term for a wide variety of phonological processes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries . Examples include the fusion of sounds across word boundaries and the alteration of sounds due to neighboring sounds or due to the grammatical function of adjacent words...

 alteration of earlier Калачников, which literally means "belonging to (usually "son of" or "place of") a man who made a type of traditional Slavic bread called kalach

Kalach (food)

Kalach , also known in Ukrainian as kolach), is a traditional East Slavic bread used at various ritual meals. It name came from the Old Slavonic word kolo meaning "circle", "wheel"....

", i.e., "kalach-maker's son".