tommy atkins
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.24 in modern English
22
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
Generic term for any British soldier.
Example Sentences
- "O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away"; But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play"
- "A voice I don't want to listen to tells me that this is England's last land triumph; that our military history ends here[…]. Tommy Atkins will serve with pluck and valor wherever he fights hereafter, as always; but the conduct of the war is passing out of our hands."
Etymology
Said to be a fictitious name inserted in document templates given to soldiers to guide them in filling out account blanks, etc. Found in the publication Soldier's Account Book (1815) and later in King's Regulations (1837). Compare also John Doe and Richard Roe.