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Armour-piercing shells containing an explosive filling were initially termed "shell", distinguishing them from non-explosive "shot". This was largely a matter of British usage, relating to the 1877 invention of the first of the type, the [[Palliser shot and shell|Palliser shell]] with 1.5% high explosive (HE). By the start of World War II, armour-piercing shells with bursting charges were sometimes distinguished by the suffix "HE"; armour-piercing high explosive (APHE) was common in [[anti-tank]] shells of 75 mm calibre and larger, due to the similarity with the much larger naval armour piercing shells already in common use. As the war progressed, ordnance design evolved so that the bursting charges in APHE became ever smaller to non-existent, especially in smaller calibre shells, e.g. [[Panzergranate 39]] with only 0.2% high-explosive filling.
The primary shell types for modern anti-tank warfare are discarding-sabot [[kinetic energy penetrator]]s, such as APDS. Full-calibre armour-piercing shells are no longer the primary method of conducting anti-tank warfare. They are still in use in artillery above 50 mm calibre, but the tendency is to use semi-armour-piercing high-explosive (SAPHE) shells, which have less anti-armour capability but far greater anti-
Common terms (and acronyms) for modern armour-piercing and semi-armour-piercing shells are:
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