sergeant
Plural: sergeants
Noun
- A non-commissioned officer in the armed forces, ranking below an officer.
- any of several noncommissioned officer ranks in the Army or Air Force or Marines ranking above a corporal
- a lawman with the rank of sergeant
- an English barrister of the highest rank
- A UK army rank with NATO code OR-6, senior to corporal and junior to warrant officer ranks.
- The highest rank of noncommissioned officer in some non-naval military forces and police.
- A lawyer of the highest rank, equivalent to the doctor of civil law.
- A title sometimes given to the servants of the sovereign.
- A bailiff.
- A servant in monastic offices.
- A fish, the píntano (Abudefduf saxatilis), a species of damselfish.
- Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Athyma; distinct from the false sergeants.
Examples
- He played the role of a SERGEANT, commanding his tiles into precise formations on the Scrabble board.
- sergeant surgeon, i.e. a servant, or attendant, surgeon
Origin / 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).
Scrabble Score: 9
sergeant: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordsergeant: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
sergeant: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary