sepoy

[ see-poi ]

noun

(formerly, in India) a soldier, usually an infantryman, in the service of Europeans, especially of the British.

Origin of sepoy

First recorded in 1675–85, in sense “horseman”; 1710–20 for current sense; variant of sipahi from Urdu, from Persian sipāhī “horseman, soldier,” derivative of sipāh “army”; cf. spahi

Words Nearby sepoy

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use sepoy in a sentence

Fully two miles away, on the south side of the ravine, were the sepoy lines, and another group of isolated bungalows.
The Red Year | Louis Tracy
Yet he feared to meet her eyes, and was glad of a saluting sepoy who swaggered jauntily past the open gate.
The Red Year | Louis Tracy
It was with the utmost difficulty that his wiser subordinates got him to disarm the sepoy regiments in Agra itself.
The Red Year | Louis Tracy
It should be explained that a sepoy (properly “sipahi”) is an infantry soldier, and a sowar a mounted one.
The Red Year | Louis Tracy
The Sikh ranks had been mainly recruited from our disbanded sepoy soldiery and deserters.
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. | E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

British Dictionary definitions for sepoy

sepoy

/ (ˈsiːpɔɪ) /

noun

(formerly) an Indian soldier in the service of the British

Origin of sepoy

C18: from Portuguese sipaio, from Urdu sipāhī, from Persian: horseman, from sipāh army

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

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