infantry

See also: Infanterie

English

Etymology

From Middle French infanterie, from older Italian, possibly from Spanish infantería (“foot soldiers, force composed of those too inexperienced or low in rank for cavalry”), from infante (“foot soldier”), originally "a youth", either way from Latin īnfāns (“child”); see there for more.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪnfəntɹi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

infantry (countable and uncountable, plural infantries)

1. Soldiers who fight on foot (on land), as opposed to cavalry and other mounted units, regardless of external transport (e.g. airborne).
2. (uncountable) The part of an army consisting of infantry soldiers, especially opposed to mounted and technical troops.
3. A regiment of infantry.
4. (colloquial, humorous) Infants; children.
   • 1887, Transactions of the Iowa State Horticultural Society, page 142:

     The next summer there was a crop of blackberries in the woods. I took wife and babies, supplied with lunch and horse feed; […] Wife took command of the infantry and I of the transportation. We were both soon calling loudly for assistance.

Derived terms

• infanteer
• infantry fighting vehicle
• infantryman
• light infantry
• line infantry
• marine infantry
• mechanized infantry
• mounted infantry
• naval infantry

 

Related terms

• infant

Translations

soldiers who fight on foot

• Afrikaans: infanterie
• Albanian: këmbësori (sq)
• Arabic: مُشَاة m pl (mušāh), بِيَادَة f (biyāda)
• Armenian: հետևազոր (hy) (hetewazor), հետևակ (hy) (hetewak)
• Azerbaijani: piyada qoşun, piyada (az)
• Basque: infanteria
• Belarusian: пяхо́та f (pjaxóta)
• Bulgarian: пехо́та f (pehóta)
• Catalan: infanteria (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 步兵 (zh) (bùbīng)

• Czech: pěchota (cs) f
• Danish: infanteri n
• Dutch: infanterie (nl) f, voetvolk (nl) n
• Esperanto: infanterio
• Estonian: jalavägi
• Finnish: jalkaväki (fi)
• French: infanterie (fr) f
• Galician: infantaría f
• Georgian: ქვეითი (kveiti), ქვეითები (kveitebi), ქვეითი ჯარისკაცი (kveiti ǯarisḳaci)
• German: Infanterie (de) f
• Greek: πεζικό (el) n (pezikó)

  Ancient: πεζοί m pl (pezoí)

• Hebrew: חֵיל רַגְלִים (he) f pl (kheil raglím)
• Hindi: प्यादा (hi) m (pyādā), पदाति (hi) m (padāti), पाजी (hi) m (pājī)
• Hungarian: gyalogság (hu)
• Icelandic: fótgöngulið (is) f
• Ido: infantrio (io)
• Indonesian: infanteri (id)
• Italian: fanteria (it) f
• Japanese: 歩兵 (ja) (ほへい hohei)
• Korean: 보병(步兵) (ko) (bobyeong)
• Latin: peditātus m
• Latvian: kājnieki m pl
• Lithuanian: pėstininkai m pl
• Macedonian: пешадија f (pešadija)
• Malay: infantri
• Malayalam: കാലാൾ (ml) (kālāḷ)
• Manchu: ᠶᠠᡶᠠᡥᠠᠨ
  ᠴᠣᠣᡥᠠ (yafahan cooha)
• Mon: ဒပ်ပၞာန်တိုက် (mnw), သရာဲပၞာန်တိုက် (mnw)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: infanteri n

  Nynorsk: infanteri n

• Occitan: infantariá (oc) f
• Old English: fēþehere m
• Pali:

  Mon: ^{(please verify)} ပတ္ထိ (patthi)

• Persian: پیاده‌نظام (piyâde-nezâm)
• Polish: piechota (pl) f
• Portuguese: infantaria (pt) f
• Romanian: infanterie (ro) f
• Russian: пехо́та (ru) f (pexóta), пехоти́нцы (ru) m pl (pexotíncy)
• Scottish Gaelic: coisridh f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пјеша̀дија f, пјеша́штво n, пеша̀дија f, пеша́штво n

  Roman: pješàdija (sh) f, pješáštvo (sh) n, pešàdija (sh) f, pešáštvo n

• Slovak: pechota f
• Slovene: pehota f
• Spanish: infantería (es) f
• Swedish: infanteri (sv) n
• Tagalog: hukbong-lakad
• Tatar: җәяүле гаскәри (cäyawle ğaskäri), пехотачы (pexotaçı), пехота солдаты (pexota soldatı)
• Thai: ทหารราบ (tá-hǎan-râap)
• Turkish: piyade (tr)
• Ukrainian: піхо́та f (pixóta)
• Vietnamese: bộ binh (vi) (步兵)

the part of an army consisting of infantry soldiers

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: հետևազոր (hy) (hetewazor), հետևակ (hy) (hetewak)
• Azerbaijani: piyada qoşun, piyada (az)
• Basque: infanteria
• Belarusian: пяхо́та f (pjaxóta)
• Bulgarian: пехо́та f (pehóta)
• Catalan: infanteria (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 步兵 (zh) (bùbīng)

• Czech: pěchota (cs) f
• Danish: infanteri n
• Dutch: infanterie (nl) f (with definite article: de i.)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: jalavägi
• Finnish: jalkaväki (fi)
• French: infanterie (fr), fantassins (fr) pl
• Galician: infantaría f
• Georgian: ქვეითი ჯარი (kveiti ǯari), ქვეითები (kveitebi)
• German: Infanterie (de) f
• Greek: πεζικό (el) n (pezikó)

  Ancient: πεζοί m pl (pezoí)

• Hungarian: gyalogság (hu)
• Italian: fanteria (it)
• Japanese: 普通科 (ja) (futsū ka)
• Latin: peditātus m
• Latvian: kājnieki m pl
• Lithuanian: pėstininkai m pl
• Malay: infantri
• Malayalam: കാലാൾപ്പട (kālāḷppaṭa)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: infanteri n

  Nynorsk: infanteri n

• Polish: piechota (pl) f
• Portuguese: infantaria (pt) f
• Romanian: infanterie (ro) f
• Russian: пехо́та (ru) f (pexóta)
• Scottish Gaelic: coisridh f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пјеша̀дија f, пјеша́штво n, пеша̀дија f, пеша́штво n

  Roman: pješàdija (sh) f, pješáštvo (sh) n, pešàdija (sh) f, pešáštvo n

• Slovak: pechota f
• Slovene: pehota f
• Spanish: infantería (es) f
• Swedish: infanteri (sv) n
• Tagalog: hukbong-lakad
• Tatar: җәяүле гаскәр (cäyawle ğaskär)
• Telugu: పదాతిబలము (te) (padātibalamu)
• Turkish: piyade (tr)
• Ukrainian: піхо́та f (pixóta)

regiment of infantry

• Danish: infanteriregiment n
• Dutch: infanterieregiment (nl) n
• Finnish: jalkaväkirykmentti
• French: régiment d’infanterie
• German: Infanterie-Regiment n
• Portuguese: infantaria (pt) f
• Romanian: regiment de infanterie n
• Spanish: regimiento de infantería m, tercio (es) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} חיל רגלים (he) m
• Volapük: ^{(please verify)} fantid (vo)

References

• (children): John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary