cavalry

English

Alternative forms

• cavalery (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle French cavalerie, in turn from Italian cavalleria. Recorded in English from the 1540s. Doublet of chivalry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkævəlɹi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

A cavalry of soldiers.

Noun

cavalry (countable and uncountable, plural cavalries)

1. (military, usually historical, uncountable) The military arm of service that fights while riding horses.
   • 1891, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, chapter XXXIII, in The White Company, New York, N.Y., Boston, Mass.: Thomas Y[oung] Crowell & Company […], →OCLC:

     Two hundred heavily-armed cavalry rode behind the Audley standard, while close at their heels came the Duke of Lancaster with a glittering train, heralds tabarded with the royal arms riding three deep upon cream-colored chargers in front of him.

2. (military, countable) An individual unit of this arm of service.
3. (military, countable) The branch of the military transported by fast light vehicles, also known as mechanized cavalry.
4. (figurative) A source of rescue, especially in an emergency.

   call in the cavalry

   • 2015 February 1, Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary‎^[1], archived from the original on 14 May 2024:

     "We landed in their killbox?" "We did. I am sor... No, belay that. Heads down! Cavalry incoming!"

Derived terms

• camelry
• cavalryman
• cavalry moustache
• cavalry mustache
• cavalrywoman
• heavy cavalry
• light cavalry
• mechanized cavalry

Translations

military service that fights with riding horses

• Afrikaans: kavallerie
• Albanian: kalorësi (sq) f
• Amharic: የፈረሰኞች ጭፍራ ? (yäfäräsäñoč č̣əfra)
• Arabic: فَارِس (ar) m (fāris), سِلَاح الفُرْسَان m (silāḥ al-fursān)

  Egyptian Arabic: خيالة f (ḵayyāla)

• Armenian: հեծելազոր (hy) (hecelazor), այրուձի (hy) (ayruji), հեծել (hy) (hecel)

  Old Armenian: հեծելազօր (hecelazōr), այրուձի (ayruji)

• Azerbaijani: atlı qoşun
• Basque: zalduneria
• Belarusian: кавале́рыя f (kavaljéryja), конніца f (kónnica)
• Breton: marc'hegiezh m
• Bulgarian: кавале́рия (bg) f (kavalérija), ко́нница f (kónnica)
• Catalan: cavalleria (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 騎兵 / 骑兵 (zh) (qíbīng)

• Czech: jezdectvo (cs) n, kavalérie (cs) f
• Danish: kavaleri n
• Dutch: cavalerie (nl) f
• Esperanto: kavalerio
• Estonian: ratsavägi
• Finnish: ratsuväki (fi)
• French: cavalerie (fr) f
• Galician: cabalaría (gl) f
• Georgian: ცხენოსანი ჯარი (cxenosani ǯari), კავალერია (ḳavaleria)
• German: Reiterei (de) f, Kavallerie (de) f
• Greek: ιππικό (el) n (ippikó)

  Ancient: ἱππεῖς m pl (hippeîs), ἱππικόν n (hippikón)

• Hebrew: חיל־פרשים m (kheil-parashym)
• Hindi: घुड़सवार सेना f (ghuṛasvār senā), घुड़सवार फ़ौज f (ghuṛasvār fauj), रिसाला (hi) m (risālā)
• Hungarian: lovasság (hu)
• Icelandic: riddaralið f
• Ido: kavalrio (io)
• Indonesian: kavaleri (id)
• Irish: marcra m, marcshlua m
• Italian: cavalleria (it) f
• Japanese: 騎兵 (ja) (kihei), 騎兵隊 (ja) (kiheitai)
• Kalmyk: мөрн церг (mörn tserg)
• Kazakh: атты әскер (atty äsker)
• Korean: 기병대 (ko) (gibyeongdae)
• Latin: equitātus m
• Latvian: kavalērija f
• Lithuanian: kavalerija f
• Low German:

  Eastphalian: Pervolk ?

• Macedonian: коњаница f (konjanica)
• Malay: husar
• Manchu: ᠮᠣᡵᡳᠨ
  ᠴᠣᠣᡥᠠ (morin cooha), ᠮᠣᡵᡳᠨ ᡳ
  ᠴᠣᠣᡥᠠ (morin-i cooha), ᠮᠣᡵᡳᠩᡤᠠ
  ᠴᠣᠣᡥᠠ (moringga cooha)
• Maori: taua eke hōiho
• Mon: ဒပ်ပၞာန်ချေံ (mnw), သရာဲပၞာန်ချေံ (mnw)
• Mongolian: морин цэрэг (morin cereg)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kavaleri n

  Nynorsk: kavaleri n

• Occitan: cavalariá (oc) f
• Pali: assasenā f
• Persian: سواره‌نظام (savâre-nezâm)
• Polish: jazda (pl) f, kawaleria (pl) f, konnica (pl) f
• Portuguese: cavalaria (pt) f
• Romanian: cavalerie (ro) f
• Russian: кавале́рия (ru) f (kavalérija), ко́нница (ru) f (kónnica)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ко̏њӣца f, ко̏њаӣштво n

  Roman: kȍnjīca (sh) f, kȍnjanīštvo (sh) n

• Slovak: jazdectvo (sk) n, kalvária f
• Slovene: konjenica (sl) f
• Spanish: caballería (es) f
• Swedish: kavalleri (sv) n
• Tagalog: kabayuhan
• Tetum: kavalaria
• Thai: ทหารม้า (tha-haan-maa)
• Turkish: süvari (tr)
• Ukrainian: кінно́та (uk) f (kinnóta), кавале́рія (uk) f (kavalérija)
• Vietnamese: kỵ binh (vi)
• Welsh: marchoglu m, marchfilwr m, cafalri m

an individual unit of cavalry

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 騎兵 / 骑兵 (zh) (qíbīng)

• Finnish: ratsuväki (fi)
• Galician: cabalaría (gl) f
• Georgian: ცხენოსანი (cxenosani), მხედარი (mxedari), კავალერისტი (ḳavalerisṭi)
• German: Kavallerie (de) f
• Greek: ιππικό (el) n (ippikó)

  Ancient: ἱππικόν n (hippikón)

• Hindi: घुड़सवार m (ghuṛasvār), रिसाला (hi) m (risālā)
• Hungarian: lovas (hu)
• Russian: кавалери́ст (ru) m (kavaleríst)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ко̏њанӣк m

  Roman: kȍnjanīk (sh) m

• Turkish: süvari (tr)

mechanized cavalry — see mechanized cavalry

References

• Delamarre, X. & Lambert, P. -Y. (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise : Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental (2nd ed.). Paris: Errance. →ISBN, →ISBN

Anagrams

• Calvary, calvary