Other forms: corporals
A corporal is a rank in the army just below a sergeant. Promoted to corporal, a lance corporal, the corporal's stripes.
It is the first rank with people to command, which makes it the hardest step in a career: a corporal was one of the soldiers yesterday. Corporal punishment is a different word entirely, from the Latin for a body.
1nouncorporalA rank in the army just below a sergeant.
“The corporal led his small group of soldiers across the bridge.”
corporal is a rank.
Old French corporal comes through Italian from Latin caput, a head — the head of a body of troops.
Proto-Indo-European
*krep-
Latin
corporālis
Old French
corporal
Middle English
corporal
English, today
corporal
From Middle English corporal, corporall, corporel, corporell, from Old French corporal (French corporel), from Latin corporālis, from Latin corpus (“body”); compare corporeal.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA