Etymology

soldier

sol·dier
S1O1L1D2I1E1R1

Today it means: A member of a ground-based army, of any rank, but especially an enlisted member. Full definition →

Middle English soudeour ← Old French soudier ← Medieval Latin soldarius
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The story

  1. Late Latin · derived fromsolidus
  2. Medieval Latin · derived fromsoldarius“soldier (one having pay)”
  3. Old French · derived fromsoudier
  4. Middle English · inherited fromsoudeour
  5. English todaysoldier

Inherited from Middle English soudeour, from Old French soudier or soudeour (“mercenary”), from Medieval Latin soldarius (“soldier (one having pay)”), from Late Latin solidus, a type of coin. Displaced Old English cempa (whence obsolete kemp). (red herring): An allusion to soldiers' red uniforms; red herring is, reciprocally, a slang term for "soldier".

Words from the same roots

Late Latinsolidus all →

solidus

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.