sergeant

See also: Sergeant

English

Alternative forms

• serjant (obsolete)
• sergeaunt (obsolete)
• serjeant (obsolete)

Etymology

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

• Generally
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɑː.d͡ʒənt/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɑɹ.d͡ʒənt/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)dʒənt
• Informally, sometimes
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɑɹ(ə)nt/
  • Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)nt

Noun

sergeant (plural sergeants)

1. (military) A UK army rank with NATO code OR-6, senior to corporal and junior to warrant officer ranks.

   Synonyms: sarge (clipping), sarnt (pronunciation spelling, informally only)

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.
   • 1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:

     All other sergeants and barristers indiscriminately (except in the Court of Common Pleas, where only sergeants are admitted) may take upon them the protection and defense of any suitors.

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

• colour sergeant
• company sergeant major
• desk sergeant
• drill sergeant
• first sergeant
• gunnery sergeant
• lance sergeant
• master gunnery sergeant
• master sergeant
• orange staff sergeant
• police sergeant
• regimental sergeant major
• saddler sergeant
• sarge
• sergeant-at-arms
• sergeant at mace
• sergeant baker
• sergeant first class
• sergeant major
• sergeant-major
• sergeant major loach
• sergeant-majorly
• staff sergeant
• technical sergeant
• under-sergeant

 

Translations

noncommissioned officer rank

• Afrikaans: sersant
• Albanian: rreshter (sq) m
• Arabic: رَقِيب m (raqīb), عَرِيف m (ʕarīf)

  Juba Arabic: ragiib

• Armenian: սերժանտ (hy) (seržant)
• Azerbaijani: çavuş (az), serjant (az)
• Belarusian: сяржа́нт m (sjaržánt)
• Bengali: সার্জেণ্ট (śarjenṭo)
• Bulgarian: сержа́нт m (seržánt)
• Burmese: ဆာဂျင် (my) (hcagyang), စာသင် (my) (casang) (police, obsolete)
• Catalan: sergent (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: (police sergeant, Hong Kong) 沙展 (saa¹ zin²)

  Mandarin: 軍士 / 军士 (zh) (jūnshì), 警官 (zh) (jǐngguān), (police sergeant, generally) 警長 / 警长 (jǐngzhǎng), (police sergeant, Singapore) 警曹 (jǐngcáo)

• Czech: četař (cs) m
• Danish: sergent (da) c
• Dutch: sergeant (nl) m
• Esperanto: serĝento
• Estonian: seersant
• Finnish: kersantti (fi)
• French: sergent (fr)
• Galician: sarxento (gl) m
• Georgian: სერჟანტი (seržanṭi)
• German: Stabsunteroffizier (de), Feldwebel (de) m
• Greek: λοχίας (el) m or f (lochías), αρχιφύλακας (el) (archifýlakas) (police rank)
• Hebrew: סָמַל (he) m (samál)
• Hindi: सार्जण्ट (hi) m (sārjaṇṭ), हवलदार (hi) m (havaldār) (police), सारजंट (hi) m (sārjaṇṭ), सार्जंट (hi) m (sārjaṇṭ), हवालदार (hi) m (havāldār), जमादार (hi) m (jamādār), दफादार (hi) m (daphādār)
• Hungarian: őrmester (hu), (first class) szakaszvezető (hu)
• Icelandic: liðþjálfi (is) m
• Indonesian: sersan (id)
• Irish: sáirsint m
• Italian: sergente (it)
• Japanese: 軍曹 (ja) (ぐんそう, gunsō)
• Kazakh: сержант (serjant)
• Korean: 중사 (ko) (jungsa)
• Kyrgyz: сержант (serjant)
• Latvian: seržants m
• Lithuanian: seržantas m
• Macedonian: водник m (vodnik), наредник m (narednik)
• Malay: sarjan
• Maori: haihana, tāriana
• Mongolian: түрүүч (mn) (türüüč)
• Norman: sèrgent m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sersjant m

  Nynorsk: sersjant m

• Persian: گروهبان (fa) (goruhbân)
• Polish: sierżant (pl) m
• Portuguese: sargento (pt)
• Romanian: sergent (ro) m
• Russian: сержа́нт (ru) m (seržánt)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: на́реднӣк m, на́редница f, во̏днӣк m

  Roman: narednik (sh) m, narednica (sh) f, vȍdnīk (sh) m

• Slovak: čatár m
• Slovene: vódnik m, vódnica f
• Spanish: sargento (es) m
• Swahili: sajini (sw) class ma
• Swedish: sergeant (sv)
• Tajik: сержант (seržant), гурӯҳбон (gurühbon)
• Thai: จ่า (th) (jàa), สิบเอก (th) (sìp-èek)
• Turkish: çavuş (tr)
• Turkmen: seržant
• Ukrainian: сержа́нт m (seržánt)
• Urdu: سارجنٹ m (sārjanṭ)
• Uzbek: serjant (uz)
• Vietnamese: trung sĩ (vi)
• Yiddish: סערזשאַנט m (serzhant)

See also

• Sargeant
• sargeant
• Sergeant

 

Anagrams

• angerest, enragest, estrange, grantees, greatens, negaters, reagents, rentages, reägents, seargent, segreant, sternage

Dutch

Alternative forms

• sergant (obsolete)
• sergent (obsolete)
• serjant (obsolete)
• sersjant (archaic, informal)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛrˈʒɑnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ser‧geant
• Rhymes: -ɑnt

Noun

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

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

Usage notes

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

• sergeant-majoor
• stadssergeant

Descendants

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

See also

• meester
• wachtmeester

Middle English

Noun

sergeant

1. Alternative form of serjaunt