Other forms: squads
A squad is the smallest unit of soldiers, working together. An infantry squad, squad leader, the whole squad.
It is typically eight to twelve soldiers under a corporal or sergeant, and it is the unit at which people actually fight — the smallest group that can move and shoot at once. In sport, the squad is the whole playing group from which a team is picked. In policing, a squad is a specialist unit: the fraud squad. Note that squad and square are the same word.
1nounsquadThe smallest unit of soldiers working together.
“The squad of soldiers moved quietly through the forest.”
2nounwholeThe whole playing group from which a team is picked.
“The coach has named a squad of twenty-three players for the World Cup.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
squad is a small group.
French escouade comes from Italian squadra, a square, from the formation soldiers were drawn up in. Square and squadron come from the same shape.
French
escouade
English, today
squad
Borrowed from French escouade. From French escouade, from Italian squadra (“square”) (whence also French escadre). a doublet of squadra and square.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA