different between captain vs sergeant

English

Etymology

From Middle English capitain, capteyn, from Old French capitaine, from Late Latin capit?neus, from Latin caput (“head”) (English cap). Doublet of chieftain, also from Old French.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?kæp.t?n/, /-t?n/
• (US, General Australian) IPA^(key): /?kæp.t?n/
• (naval, informal) IPA^(key): /?kæp.?n/, [?kæpn?], [?kæpm?]

Noun

captain (plural captains)

1. A chief or leader.
   • 1526, The Bible, tr. William Tyndale, Matthew 2:

     For out of the shal come a captaine, whych shall govern my people israhel.

   • 1929, Rudyard Kipling, "The English Way":

     Stand up-stand up, Northumberland! / I bid you answer true, / If England's King has under his hand / A Captain as good as you?

2. The person lawfully in command of a ship or other vessel.

3. An army officer with a rank between the most senior grade of lieutenant and major.

   • "A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there. […]."

4. A naval officer with a rank between commander and commodore.
5. A commissioned officer in the United States Navy, Coast Guard, NOAA Corps, or PHS Corps of a grade superior to a commander and junior to a rear admiral (lower half). A captain is equal in grade or rank to an Army, Marine Corps, or Air Force colonel.
7. One of the athletes on a sports team who is designated to make decisions, and is allowed to speak for his team with a referee or official.
   • 2000, Gregory Allen Howard, Remember the Titans

     Captain's supposed to be the leader, right?
8. The leader of a group of workers.
9. The head boy of a school.
10. A maître d', a headwaiter.
    • 1977, Don Felder, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey, lyricists, "Hotel California",

      So I called up the Captain, "Please bring me my wine." / He said: "We haven't had that spirit here since 1969."

11. (Southern US) An honorific title given to a prominent person. See colonel.

Synonyms

• (leader of a group of workers): supervisor, straw boss, foreman
• (commander of a vessel): skipper, master
• (pilot in command): pilot, pilot in command
• (military rank): CAPT, CAPT., Capt., Capt, CPT (abbreviation)

Derived terms

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: kapten
• ? Irish: captaen

Translations

Verb

captain (third-person singular simple present captains, present participle captaining, simple past and past participle captained)

1. (intransitive) To act as captain
2. (transitive) To exercise command of a ship, aircraft or sports team.

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• anti-cap, capitan, patican

English

Alternative forms

• serjant (obsolete)
• sergeaunt (obsolete)
• serjeant (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English sergeant, sergeaunt, serjent, serjaunt, serjawnt, sergant, from Old French sergeant, sergent, serjant, sergient, sergant (“sergeant, servant”), from Medieval Latin servientem, accusative of serviens (“a servant, vassal, soldier, apparitor”), from Latin servi?ns (“serving”), present participle of servi? (“serve, be a slave to”). Doublet of servant and servient.

The fish is so called because of its stripes, supposed to resemble a sergeant's insignia of rank.

For the "er" being pronounced /??/, see also clerk, derby, varsity.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?s??.d??nt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?s??.d??nt/
• Rhymes: -??(?)d??nt

Noun

sergeant (plural sergeants)

1. (military) UK army rank with NATO code OR-6, senior to corporal and junior to warrant officer ranks.
2. The highest rank of noncommissioned officer in some non-naval military forces and police.
3. (law, historical) A lawyer of the highest rank, equivalent to the doctor of civil law.
4. (Britain, historical) A title sometimes given to the servants of the sovereign.

5. A fish, the cobia.
6. Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the of the genus Athyma; distinguished from the false sergeants.
7. A bailiff.
8. A servant in monastic offices.

Related terms

• sergeant baker
• sarge

Translations

Anagrams

• angerest, enragest, estrange, grantees, greatens, negaters, reagents, rentages, reägents, seargent, segreant, sternage

Dutch

Alternative forms

• sergant (obsolete)
• sergent (obsolete)
• serjant (obsolete)
• sersjant (archaic, informal)

Etymology

From Middle Dutch seriant, from Old French sergent, from Latin servi?ns. The current spelling is influenced by English sergeant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s?r???nt/
• Hyphenation: ser?geant
• Rhymes: -?nt

Noun

sergeant m (plural sergeants or sergeanten, diminutive sergeantje n)

1. sergeant (non-commissioned officer in several armed forces)

Usage notes

This rank is in use in the Dutch army, navy and air force, in the Belgian army and air force and in the Surinamese army.

Derived terms

• sergeant-majoor

Descendants

• Afrikaans: sersant
• ? Indonesian: sersan
• ? West Frisian: sersjant

See also

• meester
• wachtmeester