One entry found for infantry.
Main Entry: inĚfanĚtry
Inflected Form(s): plural -tries
Etymology: from early French infanterie and early Italian infanteria, both meaning "infantry," from early Italian infante "infant, boy, foot soldier," from Latin infans "infant" : a branch of an army made up of soldiers trained, armed, and equipped to fight on foot Word History In the Middle Ages in France, a young soldier from a good family who was not yet a knight was called enfant, which means "child." Likewise, in Italy a soldier moving on foot behind a knight riding a horse was an infante. Later, Italian foot soldiers as a group became known as infanteria, which was borrowed into French as infanterie and into English as infantry.