Troop

How to spell troop

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce troop

What does troop mean?

1. nounA body of soldiers, especially a unit of cavalry or armoured forces.
2. nounAn organised group of scouts under one leader.
3. verbTo walk or move together as a group, especially in a steady stream.

Troop in a sentence

• noun

  The cavalry troop assembled at dawn before the exercise.

• noun

  The local scout troop meets in the church hall every Thursday.

• verb

  The tourists troop through the gallery behind their guide.

• noun

  Each troop was assigned a sector of the border to patrol.

• noun

  Her son joined the troop when he turned eleven.

• verb

  The children troop into the hall when the bell rings.

Where does troop come from?

Language of origin: French

Troop entered English in the 1500s from the French troupe, meaning a company or band of people, which in turn came from the Old French trope. The deeper root is most likely the Late Latin troppus, meaning a flock or herd, a word whose own origins are debated and possibly Germanic. The military sense, a body of soldiers and especially of cavalry, grew quickly once the word arrived, and the plural 'troops' came to mean armed forces in general. English later re-borrowed the same French word a second time, unchanged as 'troupe', to mean a company of actors or performers, which is why troop and troupe are now separate spellings for what was once a single word. Remembering that the soldiers' word kept the plain English-looking 'troop' spelling, while the theatrical word keeps the French 'troupe', helps separate the two.

How the word is built

• troop (from Old French trope: a band or company)

Words that sound like troop

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• troupe: A company of actors, dancers, or other entertainers who work and often tour together.