Army

How to spell army

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce army

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does army mean?

1. nounAn organised military force that fights on land, or a large group acting together.

Army in a sentence

• He joined the army straight after leaving school.

• The army deployed thousands of troops to the border.

Where does army come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word army comes from the Latin armata, meaning 'an armed force', which was the past participle of armare, 'to arm', built on arma, the Latin word for weapons or tools of war. It travelled into English in the late 1300s through the Old French armee, which named an armed expedition or fleet. At first English used it for any organised armed body, including forces at sea, and only later did it settle firmly onto land forces while 'navy' took the water. The same arma root still sits inside everyday words like 'arms', 'armour', and 'armament'. The modern spelling smooths the French -ee ending into a plain -y, which is why nobody hears or writes a double letter here.

How the word is built

• arm- (from Latin armata: armed force)
• -y (noun-forming, via French -ee/-ie)