infantry
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See also: Infanterie
English
Etymology
From Middle French infanterie, from older Italian, possibly from Spanish infantería (“foot soldiers, force composed of those too inexperienced or low in rank for cavalry”), from infante (“foot soldier”), originally "a youth", either way from Latin īnfāns (“child”); see there for more.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɪnfəntɹi/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
infantry (countable and uncountable, plural infantries)
- Soldiers who fight on foot (on land), as opposed to cavalry and other mounted units, regardless of external transport (e.g. airborne).
- (uncountable) The part of an army consisting of infantry soldiers, especially opposed to mounted and technical troops.
- A regiment of infantry.
- (colloquial, humorous) Infants; children.
- 1887, Transactions of the Iowa State Horticultural Society, page 142:
- The next summer there was a crop of blackberries in the woods. I took wife and babies, supplied with lunch and horse feed; […] Wife took command of the infantry and I of the transportation. We were both soon calling loudly for assistance.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
soldiers who fight on foot
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the part of an army consisting of infantry soldiers
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regiment of infantry
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
References
- (children): John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Italian
- English terms derived from Spanish
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 3-syllable words
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- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
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- en:Collectives
- en:Military