Other forms: sergeants
A sergeant is a non-commissioned officer above a corporal. Sergeant Major, the desk sergeant, promoted to sergeant.
In the army, sergeants are the senior non-commissioned ranks and the ones who actually run things. In the British police, sergeant is the rank above constable. The spelling is odd — a g pronounced as a j — and it comes straight from Old French. Note sergeant major, which is a different and more senior appointment; and that sergeant at arms is a parliamentary officer, spelled the same and doing something else entirely.
1nounsergeantA non-commissioned officer above a corporal.
“The sergeant shouted orders at the new soldiers on the parade ground.”
sergeant is a rank.
Old French sergeant comes from Latin serviens, serving — the same root as servant and serve. A sergeant was originally simply somebody in service, and the military rank is a promotion the word earned slowly.
Latin
serviēns — serving
Medieval Latin
servientem
Old French
sergeant
Middle English
sergeant
English, today
sergeant
Built from
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 serviēns (“a servant, vassal, soldier, apparitor”), from Latin serviēns (“serving”), present participle of serviō (“serve, be a slave to”). a doublet of servant and servient. The shift from > 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.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA