sepoy
/ˈsiːˌpɔɪ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.10 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A native soldier of the East Indies, employed in the service of a European colonial power, notably the British India army (first under the British-chartered East India Company, later in the crown colony), but also France and Portugal.
Example Sentences
- "If our door were in the hands of the Sepoys the place must fall, and the women and children be treated as they were in Cawnpore."
- "They proved to be the wives of a body of sepoys, also from the 5th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry; the sepoys had perished, and their families been enslaved, when their pattamar had been captured by the Qawasim some months before."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁-der.? Proto-Iranian *cwáHdahder. Middle Persian spʿh Classical Persian سپاه (sipāh) Middle Persian 𐭩𐭧 (yḥ /-īh/) Classical Persian ـی (-ē) Classical Persian سِپَاهِی (sipāhī)bor. Urdu سِپَاہِی (sipāhī)bor. Portuguese sipaibor. English sepoy From Portuguese sipai, from Urdu سِپاہی (sipāhī) / Hindi सिपाही (sipāhī), from Classical Persian سِپَاهِی (sipāhī, “soldier, horseman”), from سِپَاه (sipāh, “army”). Doublet of spahi and sipahi.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: sipaio, سِپاہی, सिपाही, سِپَاهِی
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Military.