infantry

American  

[in-fuhn-tree] / ˈɪn fən tri /

noun

infantries plural

1. soldiers or military units that fight on foot, in modern times typically with rifles, machine guns, grenades, mortars, etc., as weapons.

2. a branch of an army composed of such soldiers.

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infantry British  

/ ˈɪnfəntrɪ /

noun

1. Abbreviation: Inf.   inf. 

   1. soldiers or units of soldiers who fight on foot with small arms

   2. ( as modifier )

      an infantry unit

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• noninfantry
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• infantries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of infantry

1570–80; < Italian infanteria, equivalent to infante boy, foot-soldier ( see infant) + -ria -ry

Explanation

Armies usually contain different divisions for different purposes. For example, soldiers on horseback belong to the Cavalry, those who work in communications are in the Signal Corps, and soldiers specially trained to fight on foot are members of the Infantry. It seems somewhat strange to have the word "infant" in a word that refers to a fighting military unit, but the word infantry once referred to the foot soldiers who were too young or too inexperienced to qualify for the cavalry. The word was taken from the Latin word for a youth, infantem, and so evolved into infantry after working its way through the Spanish, Italian, and French, appearing in English in the late 16th Century.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

infantry infantries

The flag of the Golani infantry Brigade, a ground combat component of the division, now flies over Beaufort’s 12th-century tower.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026

Students are told they can sign up for only one year, including training, and serve specifically in drone units rather than regular infantry, acquiring large payments and valuable technical skills, before returning to their studies.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026

El-Obeid hosts an infantry division, an air base, a key oil pipeline and a major tree gum market.

From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026

The automaker formally re-entered the defense business nearly a decade ago with the launch of its GM Defense subsidiary, which initially focused largely on securing contracts for infantry vehicles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026

The first Rebel infantry came in that way, down the narrow gray road from the mountain gap.

From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara

Industrial culture hardly represented the subcontinent, where infantries of workmen, captured in archival film footage, lugged baskets of construction material for a building designed to look machined.

From New York Times ● Nov. 22, 2019

All other things being equal, both infantries suffer the same losses in the artillery duel.

From Battle Studies by Ardant du Picq, Charles Jean Jacques Joseph

The soldiers, who deserve no little credit for their work, are members of the Twenty-eighth and the Tenth infantries.

From The Great White Tribe in Filipinia by Gilbert, Paul T. (Paul Thomas)

The two infantries were contending; gray Russian lines in the bottom land and already advancing up the slopes.

From Red Fleece by Comfort, Will Levington

The Romans," says Napoleon in his Memoirs, "had two infantries; the first, lightly armed, was provided with a missile weapon; the second, heavily armed, bore a short sword.

From Elements of Military Art and Science Or, Course Of Instruction In Strategy, Fortification, Tactics Of Battles, &C.; Embracing The Duties Of Staff, Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, And Engineers; Adapted To The Use Of Volunteers And Militia; Third Edition; With Critical Notes On The Mexican And Crimean Wars. by Halleck, Henry Wager

Related Words

• infantrymen