gendarme

[zhahn-dahrm, zhahn-darm]

noun

plural

gendarmes 

1. a police officer in any of several European countries, especially a French police officer.

2. a soldier, especially in France, serving in an army group acting as armed police with authority over civilians.

3. (formerly) a cavalryman in charge of a French cavalry squad.

gendarme

/ ʒɑ̃darm, ˈʒɒndɑːm /

noun

1. a member of the police force in France or in countries formerly influenced or controlled by France

2. a slang word for a policeman

3. a sharp pinnacle of rock on a mountain ridge, esp in the Alps

Word History and Origins

Origin of gendarme¹

1540–50; < Middle French, earlier gens d'armes, alteration of gent d'armes people at arms

Word History and Origins

Origin of gendarme¹

C16: from French, from gens d'armes people of arms

Example Sentences

Eventually two French gendarmes spotted them through the undergrowth and walked, slowly, forwards.

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At first the gendarmes declined to intervene and stood watching from the shore.

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We counted eighteen French gendarmes watching them from the shore, declining to intervene.

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For all the calls for greater security at schools, this crime took place literally under the noses of armed gendarmes.

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"I had enough. I panicked," he told the court, apologising to the two gendarmes he had driven into in the tiny village of Vidaillat west of Clermont-Ferrand.

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Related Words

• constable 
• detective 
• man 
• officer 
• patrolman 
• patrolwoman 
• police 
• policewoman