Meanings
plural gendarmes · plural gensdarmes
- A member of the gendarmerie, a military body charged with police duties.
- A policeman.
The US is tempted to play the role of global gendarme because everyone knows that the UN, as it is, lacks the resources and capacity to fill this role.
2003, Daniele Archibugi, Mathias Koenig-Archibugi, Debating Cosmopolitics, Verso, page 170Synonyms: police officer
- A rock pinnacle on a mountain ridge.
The previous attempts foundered when they tried to take this gendarme directly.
1979, Chris Jones, Climbing in North America, →ISBN, page 1182 more examples
The Arete starts easily, with several beautiful, loping pitches leading to a striking gendarme.
1998, Climbing - Issues 178-180, page 64Continuing to the main summit involves ascents of the gendarmes (the first being the owl-eared one referred to in the next route description) and 140-foot rappels down their south sides.
2013, Joe Kelsey, Climbing and Hiking in the Wind River Mountains, →ISBN, page 259
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA policeman.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*ǵenh₁-
- Proto-Indo-European*ǵénh₁tis
- Proto-Italic*gentis
- Latingentem
- Old Frenchgent
- Frenchgents
- Frenchgens
- Proto-Indo-European*de
- Proto-Indo-European*déh₁
- Proto-Italic*dē
- Latindē
- Old Frenchde
- Middle Frenchde
- Frenchd'
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂er-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂(e)rmos
- Proto-Italic*armos
- Late Latinarma
- Old Frencharme
- Middle Frencharme
- Frencharmes
- Frenchgens d'armes
- Frenchgendarmesbf.
- Frenchgendarme
- Englishgendarme
Borrowed from French gendarme, a back-formation from gendarmes, from gens d'armes (“people of arms, armed people”), from gens + d' + armes.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic دَرَكِيّ, جَنْدَرْم
- دَرَكِيّ (darakiyy)member of the gendarmerie
- جَنْدَرْم (jandarm)member of the gendarmerie
Bulgarian жанда́рм
- жанда́рм (žandárm)member of the gendarmerie
Catalan gendarme
- gendarmemember of the gendarmerie
Chinese Mandarin 憲兵 /宪兵, 岩峰
- 憲兵 /宪兵 (xiànbīng)member of the gendarmerie
- 岩峰 (yánfēng)rock pinnacle
Czech žandarm, žandár
- žandarmmember of the gendarmerie
- žandármember of the gendarmerie
- četníkmember of the gendarmerie
- žandarmrock pinnacle
Dutch gendarme
- gendarmemember of the gendarmerie
Esperanto ĝendarmo
- ĝendarmomember of the gendarmerie
Estonian sandarm
- sandarmmember of the gendarmerie
Finnish santarmi, kalliopaasi
- santarmimember of the gendarmerie
- kalliopaasirock pinnacle
French gendarme
- gendarmemember of the gendarmerie
German Gendarm
- Gendarmmember of the gendarmerie
Greek χωροφύλακας
- χωροφύλακας (chorofýlakas)member of the gendarmerie
Hebrew זַ׳נְדַּרְם
- זַ׳נְדַּרְם (zhandárm)member of the gendarmerie
Hungarian zsandár, csendőr
- zsandármember of the gendarmerie
- csendőrmember of the gendarmerie
Italian gendarme
- gendarmemember of the gendarmerie
Japanese 憲兵
- 憲兵 (kenpei)member of the gendarmerie
Korean 헌병
- 헌병 (heonbyeong)member of the gendarmerie
Latvian žandarms
- žandarmsmember of the gendarmerie
Lithuanian žandaras
- žandarasmember of the gendarmerie
Norwegian Bokmål gendarm
- gendarmmember of the gendarmerie
Persian ژاندارم
- ژاندارم (žândârm)member of the gendarmerie
Polish żandarm
- żandarmmember of the gendarmerie
Portuguese gendarme
- gendarmemember of the gendarmerie
Romanian jandarm
- jandarmmember of the gendarmerie
Russian жанда́рм
- жанда́рм (žandárm)member of the gendarmerie
Slovak žandár
- žandármember of the gendarmerie
Spanish gendarme
- gendarmemember of the gendarmerie
Swedish gendarm
- gendarmmember of the gendarmerie
Tagalog hendarme
- hendarmemember of the gendarmerie
Turkish jandarma
- jandarmamember of the gendarmerie
Ukrainian жанда́рм
- жанда́рм (žandárm)member of the gendarmerie
Vietnamese sen đầm, hiến binh
- sen đầmmember of the gendarmerie
- hiến binhmember of the gendarmerie
Yiddish זשאַנדאַרם
- זשאַנדאַרם (zhandarm)member of the gendarmerie
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with gendarme
Anagrams
Cite this entry
gendarme. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gendarme
“gendarme.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gendarme. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gendarme,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gendarme.
Source: gendarme on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.