Skip to content
ARCHIEENGLISH
LearnPlayWordsRanking
  • Learn
  • Play
  • Words
  • Ranking
  • Mine
← Vocabulary

infantry

UK/ˈɪnfəntɹi/US/ˈɪnfəntɹi/
nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #4,980 of 15,258mostly written

Infantry are soldiers who fight on foot. The infantry advanced, an infantry regiment, join the infantry.

It takes and holds ground, which no other arm can do, and that is why it is still the largest part of most armies. The word comes from a root meaning youth or servant — infantry was originally the young and low-ranking who could not afford a horse.

U.S. Department of Defense Current Photos · Public domain

Definitions of infantry

  1. 1nouninfantrySoldiers who fight on foot.B2+

    “The infantry marched forward while the tanks gave them cover.”

infantry is soldiers.

Where it comes from

Italian and Spanish infanteria come from infante, a youth or foot soldier, from Latin infans — those too young or lowly for cavalry.

  1. Latin

    īnfāns — child

  2. Spanish

    infantería — foot soldiers, force composed of those too inexperienced or low in rank for cavalry

  3. Middle French

    infanterie

  4. English, today

    infantry

Built from

  • infante · Spanish — foot soldier

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.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Military & Defence

Practise this word

infantry in the wild

  • The 82nd Infantry Division was the second United States Army infantry-combat division of eight to deploy and return in England, and fight in France.

    82nd Airborne Division

  • By the end of the 17th century, infantry regiments in most European armies were permanent units, with approximately 800 men and commanded by a colonel.

    Regiment

  • The 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) is a light infantry division in the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York.

    10th Mountain Division

  • Light infantry refers to certain types of lightly equipped infantry throughout history.

    Light infantry

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.