soldier
/ˈsoʊld͡ʒɚ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.46 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An enlisted member of a military service, as distinguished from a commissioned officer.
Countable; Formal
noun
A guardsman.
noun
A member of the Salvation Army.
noun
A low-ranking gangster or member of a gang, especially the mafia, who engages in physical conflict.
noun
A piece of buttered bread (or toast), cut into a long thin strip for dipping into a soft-boiled egg.
Australian usage; New Zealand usage; British usage
noun
A term of approbation for a young boy.
Example Sentences
- "My friends and I saw a soldier questioning a man holding a bag with a gun in his pocket."
- "The Citizens in their rage, imagining that euery poſt in the Churche had bin one of yᵉ Souldyers, ſhot habbe or nabbe at randon uppe to the Roode lofte, and to the Chancell, leauing ſome of theyr arrowes ſticking in the Images."
- "I am a soldier and unapt to weep."
- "Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile ; he could not tell what this prisoner might do."
- "Stanning, who was commissioned from Sandhurst in 2008 and has served in Afghanistan, is not the first soldier to bail out the organisers at these Games but will be among the most celebrated."
- "She saw a soldier while collecting her baggage at the airport."
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English soudeour, from Old French soudier or soudeour (“mercenary”), from Medieval Latin soldarius (“soldier (one having pay)”), from Late Latin solidus, a type of coin. Displaced Old English cempa (whence obsolete kemp). (red herring): An allusion to soldiers' red uniforms; red herring is, reciprocally, a slang term for "soldier".
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsoʊld͡ʒɚ/
- British English: /ˈsəʊld͡ʒə/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Military.
Inflected Forms
soldiers (plural)
soldior (alternative, obsolete)
soldiour (alternative, obsolete)
souldier (alternative, obsolete)
souldior (alternative, obsolete)
souldiour (alternative, obsolete)
sojah (alternative, pronunciation spelling)
soldiuh (alternative, pronunciation spelling)
soldiers (present, singular)
soldiering (participle, present)
soldiered (participle, past)
soldiered (past)
Derived Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
battle buddy
brother-in-arms
comrade in arms
:Category:Military ranks
buffalo soldier
child soldier
chocolate soldier
Christian soldier