sergeant

Etymology

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 serviens (“a servant, vassal, soldier, apparitor”), from Latin serviēns (“serving”), present participle of serviō (“serve, be a slave to”). Doublet of servant and servient. The shift from /vj/ > /dʒ/ 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. The pronunciation with /ɑɹ/ is due to a widespread development of Middle English er + consonant (see barn, start etc.). In sergeant, the spelling was standardised in one way, the pronunciation in another (compare clerk, derby in Commonwealth English, further parson vs. person, and varsity vs. university).

noun

1. (military) UK army rank with NATO code OR-6, senior to corporal and junior to warrant officer ranks.
2. The highest rank of noncommissioned officer in some non-naval military forces and police.
   “Yes, there are two distinct sets of footprints, both wearing rubber shoes—one I think ordinary plimsolls, the other goloshes,” replied the sergeant. 1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 13, in Well Tackled!
3. (law, historical) A lawyer of the highest rank, equivalent to the doctor of civil law.
4. (UK, historical) A title sometimes given to the servants of the sovereign.
   sergeant surgeon, i.e. a servant, or attendant, surgeon
5. A fish, the cobia.
6. Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Athyma; distinct from the false sergeants.
7. A bailiff.
8. A servant in monastic offices.