Etymology

sepoy

se·poi
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Today it means: A native soldier of the East Indies, employed in the service of a European colonial power, notably the British India army (first under the British-chartered East India Company, later in the crown colony), but also France and Portugal. Full definition →

Portuguese sipai ← Urdu سِپَاہِی (sipāhī) ← Classical Persian سِپَاهِی (sipāhī)
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱewh₁-der.?
  2. Proto-Iranian*cwáHdah
  3. Middle Persianspʿh
  4. Classical Persianسپاه (sipāh)
  5. Middle Persian𐭩𐭧 (yḥ /⁠-īh⁠/)
  6. Classical Persianـی (-ē)
  7. Classical Persianسِپَاهِی (sipāhī)
  8. Urduسِپَاہِی (sipāhī)
  9. Portuguesesipai
  10. English todaysepoy

From Portuguese sipai, from Urdu سِپاہی (sipāhī) / Hindi सिपाही (sipāhī), from Classical Persian سِپَاهِی (sipāhī, “soldier, horseman”), from سِپَاه (sipāh, “army”). Doublet of spahi and sipahi.

Words from the same roots

Classical Persianسِپَاهِی all →

spahi

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.