Lieutenant

How to spell lieutenant

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce lieutenant

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does lieutenant mean?

1. nounA commissioned officer ranking just below a captain in the army, or an officer of a corresponding rank in the navy, police, or fire service.
2. nounA commissioned officer ranking just below a captain in the army, or an equivalent rank in the navy, police, or fire service.
3. nounA person who acts as a chief assistant or deputy to a more senior figure.

Lieutenant in a sentence

• The young lieutenant saluted the visiting general.

• The lieutenant ordered his platoon to hold the ridge.

• The crime boss relied on his trusted lieutenant to run the operation.

• After years of service she was promoted to lieutenant.

• A fire lieutenant supervised the crew at the scene.

• As the senator's chief lieutenant, she handled every difficult negotiation.

Where does lieutenant come from?

Language of origin: French

This word came into English from Old French in the late 1300s, formed from lieu, meaning 'place', and tenant, meaning 'holding', from the verb tenir, 'to hold'. A lieutenant was therefore literally a person who held the place of a higher officer, acting as a deputy or stand-in during the superior's absence. Both halves trace back to Latin: locus gave the French lieu, and tenere, 'to hold', gave tenant, a root still visible in 'tenant', 'tenure', and 'retain'. The military rank sense, naming an officer just below a captain, developed from this idea of a deputy taking command. The fossilised French spelling 'lieu' is exactly the trap, since the 'ieu' cluster is pronounced quite differently on each side of the Atlantic and matches no plain English spelling pattern.

How the word is built

• lieu (place)
• tenant (from tenir: to hold), literally 'one holding the place of a superior'