poilu

American

[pwah-loo, pwa-ly] / ˈpwɑ lu, pwaˈlü /

noun

a French common soldier.

poilu British

/ ˈpwɑːluː, pwaly /

noun

an infantryman in the French Army, esp one in the front lines in World War I

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

poilus

plural

Etymology

Origin of poilu

1910–15; < French, in earlier slang: tough individual, tough, brave, literally, hairy, haired; Middle French, Old French pelu ( cf. plew) < Vulgar Latin *pilūtus, equivalent to Latin pil ( us ) hair + Vulgar Latin *-ūtus, for Latin -ātus -ate ¹ ( e > oi by influence of poil hair < Latin pilus )

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023