soldier

English

Soldiers.

Alternative forms

soldior (obsolete)
soldiour (obsolete)
souldier (obsolete)
souldior (obsolete)
souldiour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English soudeour, from Anglo-Norman soudeer or soudeour 'mercenary', from Medieval Latin soldarius 'soldier (one having pay)', from Late Latin solidus, a type of coin.

Pronunciation

enPR: sōl'jə(r), IPA: /ˈsəʊldʒə(ɹ)/, X-SAMPA: /"s@UldZ@(r\)/
Audio (UK)
(file)
Rhymes: -əʊldʒə(ɹ)
enPR: sŏl'jə(r), IPA: /ˈsɒldʒə(ɹ)/, X-SAMPA: /"sQldZ@(r\)/
Rhymes: -ɒldʒə(ɹ)
Audio (US)
(file)

Noun

soldier (plural soldiers)

A member of an army, of any rank.
- 2012, August 1. Owen Gibson in Guardian Unlimited, London 2012: rowers Glover and Stanning win Team GB's first gold medal
  Stanning, who was commissioned from Sandhurst in 2008 and has served in Aghanistan, is not the first solider to bail out the organisers at these Games but will be among the most celebrated.
A guardsman.
A member of the Salvation Army.
(UK, New Zealand) A piece of buttered bread (or toast), cut into a long thin strip and dipped into a soft-boiled egg.
A term of affection for a young boy.
Someone who fights or toils well

Synonyms

(member of an army): grunt, sweat, old sweat, Tommy

Translations

member of an army

Abkhaz: please add this translation if you can
Adyghe: please add this translation if you can
Afrikaans: soldaat (af)
Albanian: ushtar (sq)
Amharic: please add this translation if you can
Arabic: جندي (ar) (jundī) m, عسكري (ar) (ʿaskarī) m
Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
Armenian: զինվոր (hy) (zinvor)
Asturian: soldáu (ast) m
Azeri: əsgər (az), soldat (az)
Baluchi: سپائی (sapáí, sipáí), سپاہی (sapáhí, sipáhí)
Bashkir: please add this translation if you can
Basque: soldadu (eu)
Belarusian: салдат (be) (saldát) m, воін (be) (vóin) m
Bengali: সৈনিক (bn) (sainik)
Breton: soudard (br) m
Bulgarian: войник (bg) (vojník) m, воин (bg) (vóin) m, солдат (bg) (soldát) m
Burmese: စစ်သား (my) (sittha:)
Catalan: soldat (ca)
Chamicuro: soltalo
Chechen: сурхо (surxo)
Cherokee: ᎠᏯᏫᏍᎩ (chr) (ayawisgi)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 士兵 (cmn) (shìbīng), 兵 (cmn) (bīng), 軍人 (cmn), 军人 (cmn) (jūnrén), 戰士 (cmn), 战士 (cmn) (zhànshì)
Czech: voják (cs) m
Danish: soldat (da) c
Dutch: soldaat (nl) m, soldate (nl) f
Esperanto: soldato (eo)
Estonian: sõdur (et), sõjaväelane (et)
Faroese: hermaður (fo) m
Finnish: sotilas (fi), solttu (fi)
French: soldat (fr) m
Friulian: please add this translation if you can
Galician: soldado (gl) m
Georgian: ჯარისკაცი (ka) (ǰarisvac’i)
German: Soldat (de) m, Soldatin (de) f
Greek: στρατιώτης (el) (stratiótis) m
Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
Haitian Creole: solda
Hebrew: חייל (he) (khayal) m
Hindi: सैनिक (hi) (sainik) m
Hungarian: katona (hu)
Icelandic: hermaður (is) m
Indonesian: prajurit (id), tentara (id), serdadu (id)
Irish: saighdiúir (ga) m
Italian: soldato (it) m
Japanese: 兵士 (ja) (へいし, heishi), 軍人 (ja) (ぐんじん, gunjin), 兵隊 (ja) (へいたい, heitai)
Javanese: prajurit (jv)
Kannada: ಸೈನಿಕ (kn) (sainika)
Kazakh: әскер (kk) (əsker), жауынгер (kk) (jawınger), сарбаз (kk) (sarbaz), солдат (kk) (soldat), ұлан (kk) (ulan)
Khmer: ទាហាន (km) (tiehien)
Korean: 군인 (ko) (gun-in) (軍人 (ko))
Kurdish:
Sorani: باڵباز (ku) (balbaz), عه‌سکه‌ر (ku) (`askar), چه‌کمه‌بۆر (ku) (chakmabor), سه‌رباز (ku) (sarbAz)
Kyrgyz: жоокер (ky) (cooker), черүү (ky) (çerüü), черик (ky) (çerik), солдат (ky) (soldat)
Lao: ທະຫານ (lo) (tha hān)
Latin: mīles (la) m

Latvian: kareivis (lv) m, karavīrs (lv) m
Ligurian: please add this translation if you can
Lithuanian: karys (lt) m
Lojban: sonci (jbo)
Luxembourgish: Zaldot (lb) m
Macedonian: војник (mk) (vójnik) m
Malay: askar (ms), tentera (ms), perajurit (ms), hulubalang (ms)
Malayalam: പടയാളി (ml)
Manx: sidoor (gv) m
Marathi: please add this translation if you can
Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
Mongolian: цэрэг (mn) (tsereg)
Navajo: siláo, siláołtsooí
Nepali: please add this translation if you can
Occitan: soldat (oc) m
Oriya: ସୈନିକ (or) (sainik)
Persian: سرباز (fa) (sarbâz)
Polish: żołnierz (pl) m, wojak (pl) m
Portuguese: soldado (pt) m
Punjabi: please add this translation if you can
Romagnolo: suldèd (rgn) m, suldèda (rgn) f
Romanian: soldat (ro), ostaș (ro), militar (ro)
Romansch: schuldà (rm) m (Rumantsch Grischun), schuldau (rm) m (Sursilvan), suldo (rm) m (Sutsilvan, Surmiran), schuldo (rm) m (Sutsilvan), sudo (rm) m (Puter), sudà (rm) m (Vallader)
Russian: солдат (ru) (soldát) m, воин (ru) (vóin) m, военнослужащий (ru) (vojennoslúžaščij) m, военный (ru) (vojénnyj) m, вояка (ru) (vojáka) m (pejorative), солдафон (ru) (soldafón) m (pejorative)
Scottish Gaelic: saighdear (gd) m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: војник (sh) m, војникиња (sh) m, војнослужац (sh) m, војникиња (sh) f, војак (sh) m

Roman: vojnik (sh) m, vojnikinja (sh) m, vojnoslužac (sh) m, vojnikinja (sh) f, vojak (sh) m
Sicilian: suldàtu (scn) m, surdàtu (scn) m
Sinhalese: සොල්දාදුවා (si) (soldāduvā)
Skolt Sami: sääldat
Slovak: voják (sk) m
Slovene: vojak (sl) m, vojákinja (sl) f
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: wójak m, wójacka f
Spanish: soldado (es)
Sundanese: pajurit (su)
Swedish: soldat (sv)
Tagalog: kawal (tl)
Tajik: сарбоз (tg) (sarboz), аскар (tg) (askar), солдат (tg) (soldat)
Tamil: போர்வீரன் (ta) (pōrvīraṉ)
Taos: nòdu’úna
Telugu: బంటు (te) (baṇṭu)
Thai: ทหาร (th) (thahaan)
Tibetan: དམག་མི (bo)
Turkish: asker (tr)
Turkmen: esger (tk), soldat (tk), esğer (tk)
Ukrainian: солдат (uk) (soldát) m, воїн (uk) (vójin) m
Urdu: فوجی (ur)
Uyghur: جەڭچى (ug) (jengchi)
Uzbek: soldat (uz), askar (uz)
Vietnamese: người lính (vi), bộ đội (vi)
Volapük: (male or female) soldat (vo), (male) hisoldat (vo), (female) jisoldat (vo)
Walloon: please add this translation if you can
Welsh: milwr (cy) m
West Frisian: soldaat (fy)
Yiddish: סאָלדאַט (yi) (soldat) m, זעלנער (yi) (zelner) m

a guardsman

Greek: εθνοφρουρός (el) (ethnofrourós) m, φρουρός (el) (frourós) m, φύλακας (el) (fýlakas) m
Italian: soldato (it) m
Japanese: 警備員 (ja) (けいびいん, keibiin)

Russian: часовой (ru) (časovój) m, караульный (ru) (karaúlʹnyj) m, охранник (ru) (oxránnik) m, страж (ru) (straž) m
Scottish Gaelic: freiceadan (gd) m

a member of the Salvation Army

Dutch: heilsoldaat (nl) m, heilsoldate (nl) f

Japanese: 兵士 (ja) (へいし, heishi)

UK: a piece of buttered bread or toast

French: mouillette (fr) f

a term of affection for a young boy

Scottish Gaelic: laochan (gd) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Arabic: جندي (ar) (júndi)
Korean: 군인 (ko) (gunin)
Norwegian: soldat (no) m

Spanish: soldado (es) m (private soldier), militar (es) m (member of an army, usually of higher rank), milico (es) m (Andes, River Plate region, pejorative)
Swedish: (1,3) soldat (sv) c, (3) frälsningssoldat (sv) c
Telugu: సైనికుడు (te) (sainikuDu)
Thai: ทหาร (th) (taharn)

Verb

soldier (third-person singular simple present soldiers, present participle soldiering, simple past and past participle soldiered)

To continue.
To be a soldier.
To intentionally restrict labor productivity; to work at the slowest rate that goes unpunished. Has also been called dogging it or goldbricking. (Originally from the way that conscripts may approach following orders. Usage less prevalent in the era of all-volunteer militaries.)