gi
noun
a lightweight, two-piece, usually white garment worn by barefooted martial-arts participants, consisting of loose-fitting pants and a wraparound jacket with cloth belt.
gi
1 American
[gee]
/ gi /
Or
gie
noun
Gi
2
American
GI
3
American
[jee-ahy]
/ ˈdʒiˈaɪ /
Or
G.I.
noun
-
GI's,
plural
-
GIs
plural
adjective
-
rigidly adhering to military regulations and practices; regimented; spit-and-polish.
a platoon leader who tried to be more GI than anyone else.
-
of a standardized style or type issued by the U.S. armed forces.
GI shoes; GI blankets.
-
conforming to the regulations or practices of the U.S. armed forces.
Every recruit must get a GI haircut.
-
of, relating to, or characteristic of a U.S. enlisted person.
a typical peacetime GI complaint.
verb (used with object)
GI'd,
GI'ing
verb (used without object)
GI'd,
GI'ing
gi.
4
American
abbreviation
G.I.
5
American
Also
g.i.
abbreviation
-
galvanized iron.
-
gastrointestinal.
-
general issue.
-
government issue.
GI
1
British
noun
adjective
GI
2
British
abbreviation
-
gastrointestinal
-
glycaemic index
Gi
3
British
abbreviation
gi
4
British
/ ɡiː /
noun
gi
5
British
abbreviation
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of gi1
1970–75; shortening of Japanese jūdō-gi jujitsu garb, equivalent to jūdō judo + -gi, combining form of ki to wear
Origin of GI3
1915–20; originally abbreviation of galvanized iron, used in U.S. Army bookkeeping in entering articles (e.g., trash cans) made of it; later extended to all articles issued (as an assumed abbreviation of government issue ) and finally to soldiers themselves
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Photos from the event show Hardy donning a blue gi, wearing a blue belt, the second adult rank in jiu-jitsu, which often requires hundreds of hours of training to achieve.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2022
Many followed his mother's request to attend the ceremony wearing a gi, the uniform worn in Jiu-Jitsu.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2022
Karate, another first on the Olympics calendar, felt ground-breaking for a similar reason, with men and women wearing the sport’s classic gi.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 6, 2021
The gardening gi has been an unexpected hit.
From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2020
“Ugwuanyi,” she said, “you have to come home. Oga gi kwanu? Where is your master?”
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Meanwhile, 75% of the 1,881 UK jobseekers polled in July by recruiter Gi Group say they would not be put off applying to an organisation that had introduced AI proficiency into individual performance reviews.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
Dr. Becky, wearing the Gi sweatshirt again, instructs: “We have to understand before we intervene.”
From Slate ● May 10, 2026
Renowned illustrator Kim Jung Gi died Monday in Paris at age 47 after suffering a heart attack, the Daniel Maghen art gallery announced Wednesday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2022
Friends and family took to the Internet shorty after Kobe and Gi Gi passed to celebrate how much he loved his daughters, and fans soon followed with their own.
From Salon ● Jun. 20, 2021
Tsewenalding: K, M, Go, Gi 10 6 10 8.
From The Aboriginal Population of the North Coast of California by Sherburne Friend Cook
I also have 11 months and 20 days remaining under the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026
Joseph attended Harvard University on the GI bill and completed majors in math and physics in just three years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
The researchers noted that "geographical regions influence the risk of GI cancers," suggesting that regional differences should be considered when making dietary recommendations.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
The GI Bill and the industrial boom drove the greatest project of mass education and mass consumption in world history.
From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2026
“They said ‘Hey, GI, how about some Cheu Hoi.
From "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers
“But I remember not even lasting long enough to get a gi. And I don’t think John and Hayden even made it that far.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2022
“Your life belongs to you and you alone, soso gi. You will go back on Saturday. Let me hurry up and make some abacha for you to take.”
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
But from 1940 to 1960, a number of forces — a boom in home building following World War II, low-interest loans provided through the G.I.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026
He later enrolled in what’s now Cal State L.A. under the G.I.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 24, 2026
Which is how Alcaraz turned up two weeks ago in New York City looking not like Carlos Alcaraz, or Johnny Unitas, but like Demi Moore in G.I.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2025
It's been stopped in its tracks by a type of vortex first described in the 1920s by a brilliant physicist, Sir G.I.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2024
“When you were little, you loved to play pretend. To be G.I. Joe or Barbie. This is the same thing. Playing pretend,” she says.
From "The Skin I'm In" by Sharon G. Flake
“It was lugged home in some GI’s duffel bag, without its case.”
From Slate ● Mar. 16, 2024
Anyway, after the bomb was dropped, the GI's who worked at the laboratory came up and shook my hand and said, “You were the person who stuck the hand of the great Enrico Fermi.”
From Scientific American ● Jul. 27, 2023
The aircraft chase the GI’s informal prayer as reliably as the violins tail the piano in Chanda Dancy’s treacly score.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 21, 2022
A GI’s fiancee resents his marriage of convenience to a buddy’s English girlfriend.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 3, 2020
If the GI's step in, that will have to stop—which means we'll show a loss heavy enough to put us out.
From A Spaceship Named McGuire by Randall Garrett
In Robert Capa’s photograph of GIs on the USS Samuel Chase just before the D-Day landings, soldiers play craps with French banknotes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
In theory, the law was “colorblind,” offering the same educational support to Black GIs as to white GIs.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 18, 2026
"The soldiers who once called each other Redcoats and Yankees became the Tommies and the GIs who together saved the free world," he said.
From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026
As we know, many children of Vietnamese women and American GIs did not get evacuated, and they were not killed by the victors.
From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2025
The GIs I saw at Chu Lai looked sharp enough to be in a parade; these guys looked as if they had just come in from a hard day’s work, a damn hard day’s work.
From "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
