sepoy
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See also: Sepoy
English
Etymology
From Portuguese sipae, from Urdu سِپاہی (sipāhī) / Hindi सिपाही (sipāhī), from Classical Persian سِپَاهِی (sipāhī, “soldier, horseman”), from سِپَاه (sipāh, “army”). Doublet of spahi.
Pronunciation
Noun
sepoy (plural sepoys)
- (historical, military) A native soldier of the East Indies, employed in the service of a European colonial power, notably the British India army (first under the British-chartered East India Company, later in the crown colony), but also France and Portugal.
- 1890, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, The Sign of the Four, London: Spencer Blackett:
- If our door were in the hands of the Sepoys the place must fall, and the women and children be treated as they were in Cawnpore.
- 1997, Charles E. Davies, The Blood-red Arab Flag: An Investigation Into Qasimi Piracy, 1797-1820, University of Exeter Press, →ISBN, page 312:
- They proved to be the wives of a body of sepoys, also from the 5th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry; the sepoys had perished, and their families been enslaved, when their pattamar had been captured by the Qawasim some months before.
- (India, Pakistan, Nepal) The holder of an infantry enlisted rank equivalent to private in other countries.
Descendants
- → Dutch: sepoy, sipoy
- → Indonesian: sepoy
- → German: Sepoy
- → Italian: sepoy
- → Swedish: sepoy
- → Finnish: sepoy
- → Turkish: sepoy
Translations
a native soldier of the East Indies
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References
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “sepoy”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Further reading
- “sepoy”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- “sepoy”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “sepoy” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.
- “sepoy”, in Collins English Dictionary.
Anagrams
Dutch
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
sepoy m (plural sepoys, diminutive sepoytje n)
- (historical) A sepoy, native soldier in the British East Indies, in particular British India.