Wiktionary

sergeant

See also: Sergeant

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English sergeant, sergeaunt, serjent, serjaunt, serjawnt, sergant, from Old French sergeant, sergent, serjant, sergient, sergant (“sergeant, servant”), from Medieval Latin servientem, accusative of serviens (“a servant, vassal, soldier, apparitor”), from Latin serviēns (“serving”), present participle of serviō (“serve, be a slave to”). Doublet of servant and servient.

The shift from /vj/ > /dʒ/ was a regular development in Old French. Compare cavea > cage, salvia > sage.

The fish is so called because of its stripes, supposed to resemble a sergeant's insignia of rank.

The pronunciation with /ɑɹ/ is due to a widespread development of Middle English er + consonant (see barn, start etc.). In sergeant, the spelling was standardised in one way, the pronunciation in another (compare clerk, derby in Commonwealth English, further parson vs. person, and varsity vs. university).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

sergeant (plural sergeants)

  1. (military) UK army rank with NATO code OR-6, senior to corporal and junior to warrant officer ranks.
  2. The highest rank of noncommissioned officer in some non-naval military forces and police.
    • 1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 13, in Well Tackled!‎[1]:
      “Yes, there are two distinct sets of footprints, both wearing rubber shoes—one I think ordinary plimsolls, the other goloshes,” replied the sergeant.
  3. (law, historical) A lawyer of the highest rank, equivalent to the doctor of civil law.
  4. (UK, historical) A title sometimes given to the servants of the sovereign.
    sergeant surgeon, i.e. a servant, or attendant, surgeon
  5. A bailiff.
  6. A servant in monastic offices.
  7. A fish, the cobia.
  8. Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Athyma; distinct from the false sergeants.

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Anagrams

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Dutch

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle Dutch seriant, from Old French sergent, from Latin serviēns. The current spelling is influenced by English sergeant.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /sɛrˈʒɑnt/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: ser‧geant
  • Rhymes: -ɑnt

Noun

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sergeant m (plural sergeants or sergeanten, diminutive sergeantje n)

  1. sergeant (non-commissioned officer in several armed forces)

Usage notes

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This rank is in use in the Dutch army, navy and air force, in the Belgian army and air force and in the Surinamese army.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Afrikaans: sersant
  • → Indonesian: sersan
  • → Papiamentu: serzjant, sergeant
  • → West Frisian: sersjant

See also

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Middle English

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Noun

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sergeant

  1. Alternative form of serjaunt
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