Other forms: subalterns
A subaltern is a junior officer in the army. A young subaltern, the subalterns' mess, commissioned as a subaltern.
In British use it covers any officer below captain, and it carries the flavour of the First World War, where subalterns led platoons and died in appalling numbers. In postcolonial theory the subaltern means a group excluded from power altogether.
1nounsubalternA junior officer in the army.
“The young subaltern led his platoon across the river under fire.”
subaltern is an officer.
Latin subalternus means subordinate — sub, under, plus alternus, one after another, from alter, the other.
Latin
subalternus
Middle French
subalterne
English, today
subaltern
From Middle French subalterne, from Latin subalternus, from Latin sub- + alternus, from alter.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA