lieutenant

See also: Lieutenant

English

Alternative forms

• leftenant, leftenaunt, lieftenant, lieftenaunt, lieutenaunt (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English lieutenant, lieftenaunt, from Anglo-Norman lieutenant, lyutenaunt, leu tenant, leu tenaunt (“deputy, lieutenant”), from Old French lieu (“place”) + tenant (“holder”). Doublet of locum tenens.

Pronunciation

• (UK, General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /lɛfˈtɛnənt/, /ləˈtɛnənt/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

  • Audio (General Australian):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /l(j)uˈtɛnənt/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /l(j)uˈtɛnənt/, /lɛfˈtɛnənt/^[1]

  • Audio (Canada):

    (file)

  • Audio (Canada):

    (file)

• (India) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛftɛnənt/

  • Audio:

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnənt

Noun

lieutenant (plural lieutenants)

1. (military) The lowest junior commissioned officer rank(s) in many military forces, often Army and Marines.
   1. (military, US) In the US Army, Air Force and Marines, holding the rank above second lieutenant and below captain. Both ranks may be referred to as "lieutenant" or as the complete forms of the ranks.
   2. (military, US, navy) A naval officer whose rank is above that of ensign in the United States Navy and below that of a lieutenant commander. There are two ranks of lieutenant: lieutenant junior grade and lieutenant.
   3. (military, US) A commissioned officer in the United States Coast Guard, Public Health Service, or National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration whose rank is above that of ensign and below lieutenant commander. There are two ranks of lieutenant: lieutenant junior grade and lieutenant.
   4. (military, UK) A commissioned officer in the British Army and Royal Marines, holding the rank above second lieutenant and below captain. Both ranks may be referred to as "lieutenant"; however, "second lieutenant" is to specify that the officer is not yet a full lieutenant.
   5. (military, UK) A naval officer whose rank is above that of sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy and below that of a lieutenant commander.
   6. (military, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A naval Commissioned Officer who holds the rank above sub-lieutenant and below lieutenant commander.
2. A person who manages or executes the plans and directives of another, more senior person; a manager to their director.
   • 2023 December 9, Tripp Mickle, Cade Metz, Mike Isaac, Karen Weise, “Inside OpenAI’s Crisis Over the Future of Artificial Intelligence”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     Mr. Scott immediately asked someone at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash., to get Mr. Nadella, the chief executive, out of a meeting he was having with top lieutenants.

3. The second-in-command (2IC) of a group.

Usage notes

When used as a title, it is always capitalised, and frequently abbreviated to Lt.

• Example: Lieutenant Anne Ward.

The rank of lieutenant corresponds to pay grade O-3 in the US Navy, Coast Guard, Public Health Service, and National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration.

Synonyms

• (military): Lt., LT., LT, lieut., Lieut., lieut, Lieut (abbreviation)

Derived terms

• brevet lieutenant
• captain lieutenant
• desk lieutenant
• fifth lieutenant
• first lieutenant
• flag lieutenant
• flight lieutenant
• fourth lieutenant
• junior lieutenant
• lieutenant admiral
• lieutenant-admiral
• lieutenant captain
• lieutenant colonel
• lieutenant-colonel
• lieutenant-colonelcy
• lieutenant commander
• lieutenant general
• lieutenant governor
• lieutenant-governor
• lieutenant junior grade
• lieutenant marshal
• lieutenant senior grade
• police lieutenant
• second lieutenant
• senior lieutenant
• shift lieutenant
• staff lieutenant
• sublieutenant
• third lieutenant

 

Descendants

• → Irish: leifteanant
• → Malay: leftenan
• → Swahili: luteni

Translations

lowest commissioned officer rank

Albanian: toger (sq) m Arabic: مُلَازِم (ar) m (mulāzim) Armenian: լեյտենանտ (hy) (leytenant) Belarusian: лейтэна́нт m (ljejtenánt) Bulgarian: лейтена́нт m (lejtenánt) Burmese: ဗိုလ် (my) (buil) Catalan: tinent (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 中尉 (zh) (zhōngwèi), 陸軍中尉／陆军中尉 (zh) (lùjūn zhōngwèi) Czech: poručík (cs) m Danish: løjtnant (da) c Dutch: luitenant (nl) m Esperanto: leŭtenanto Estonian: leitnant Finnish: luutnantti (fi) French: lieutenant (fr), (rare) lieutenante (fr) f Galician: tenente (gl) m or f Georgian: ლეიტენანტი (leiṭenanṭi) German: Leutnant (de) m, Leutnantin f Greek: υπολοχαγός (el) m (ypolochagós) (army, 1st Lt), υποπλοίαρχος (el) m (ypoploíarchos) (navy), υποσμηναγός (el) m (yposminagós) (airforce, 1st Lt), ανθυπολοχαγός (el) m (anthypolochagós) (army, 2nd Lt), ανθυποπλοίαρχος (el) m (anthypoploíarchos) (navy, Lt junior grade), ανθυποσμηναγός (el) m (anthyposminagós) (airforce, 2nd Lt) Hindi: लेफ़्टिनेंट (lefṭineṇṭ) Hungarian: hadnagy (hu) Indonesian: letnan (id) Irish: leifteanant m Italian: tenente (it) Japanese: 中尉 (ja) (ちゅうい, chūi), 少尉 (ja) (しょうい, shōi), 海軍大尉 (かいぐんたいい, kaiguntaii) Khmer: អនុនាវីទោ (ʼɑɑnuniəviitoo) Korean: 중위 (ko) (jung'wi) Lao: ຮ້ອຍໂທ (lo) (hǭi thō) Macedonian: поручник m (poručnik) Malay: leftenan Maori: rūtene Norwegian: Bokmål: løytnant m Nynorsk: løytnant m Persian: ستوان (fa) (sotvân) Polish: porucznik (pl) m Portuguese: tenente (pt) Romanian: locotenent (ro) m Romansch: litinent m (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran), tenent m (Rumantsch Grischun, Puter, Vallader) Russian: лейтена́нт (ru) m (lejtenánt), пору́чик (ru) m (porúčik) (in imperial Russian army (1730–1917), armies of White movement, and in armies of other Slavic nations), по́ру́чник (ru) m (pórúčnik) (in certain Slavic armies—a non-dictionary form in limited use instead of поручик to more precisely reproduce local terminology) Slovak: poručík m Slovene: poročnik (sl) m, poročnica f Spanish: teniente (es) Swahili: luteni Swedish: löjtnant (sv) c Thai: นายร้อย, เรือโท (th) (rʉʉa-too) Turkish: teğmen (tr) Ukrainian: лейтена́нт m (lejtenánt) Vietnamese: trung úy (vi) Yiddish: לייטענאַנט (leytenant)

person who executes the plans and directives of another

Chinese: Mandarin: 二把手 (zh) (èrbǎshǒu) Finnish: luutnantti (fi) French: lieutenant (fr) m, (rare) lieutenante (fr) f German: Gehilfe (de) m, Stellvertreter (de) m Greek: πρωτοπαλίκαρο (el) n (protopalíkaro), υπαρχηγός (el) (yparchigós) Ancient Greek: ὕπαρχος m (húparkhos) Hebrew: סגן (he) m (s-gan) Portuguese: procurador (pt) m Romanian: locțiitor (ro) m Russian: замести́тель (ru) m (zamestítelʹ), помо́щник (ru) m (pomóščnik) Slovene: pribočnik m

the second-in-command of a group

Catalan: lloctinent (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 副官 (zh) (fùguān) Hungarian: al- (hu), -helyettes (hu) Japanese: 副官 (ja) (ふっかん, fukkan) Spanish: lugarteniente (es) m or f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Arabic: (please verify) مُلَازِم اَوَّل m (mulāzim awwal), (please verify) نَقِيب (ar) m (naqīb) Dutch: (please verify) luitenant (nl) m Esperanto: (please verify) leŭtenanto Italian: (please verify) tenente (it) m, (please verify) luogotenente (it) Korean: (please verify) 중위 (ko) (jung'wi), (please verify) 소위 (ko) (sowi), (please verify) 대위 (ko) (daewi) Latin: (please verify) legatus (la) Macedonian: (please verify) по́ручник m (póručnik) Persian: (please verify) ستوان (fa) (sotvân) Romanian: (please verify) locțiitor (ro), (please verify) locotenent (ro) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: (please verify) по̀ручнӣк m Roman: (please verify) pòručnīk (sh) m Spanish: (please verify) teniente (es) m, (please verify) lugarteniente (es) m Turkish: (please verify) teğmen (tr) Volapük: (male or female) (please verify) liötan (vo), (male) (please verify) hiliötan, (female) (please verify) jiliötan

See also

• subaltern

Adjective

lieutenant (not comparable)

1. A military grade that is junior to the grade the adjective modifies: lieutenant colonel, lieutenant general, lieutenant commander.

Translations

military grade

Catalan: tinent (ca) m Finnish: -luutnantti (fi) French: lieutenant (fr) German: Leutnant (de) m Indonesian: letnan (id) Norwegian: Bokmål: løytnant m Nynorsk: løytnant Spanish: teniente (es) m

References

1. In a survey in 1972, only 14–19% of 14-year-olds used the traditional pronunciation IPA^(key): /lɛfˈtɛnənt/: How do you pronounce Lieutenant Governor?, Toronto Star; July 6, 2014

• Lieutenant, World Wide Words

French

Etymology

Univerbation of lieu tenant, literally “placeholder”, from tenir lieu (“to hold the place of someone, to act as a substitute for someone”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ljøt.nɑ̃/

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

lieutenant m (plural lieutenants, feminine lieutenante)

1. (military) lieutenant
2. deputy, right-hand man, second-in-command

   Synonym: adjoint

Derived terms

• lieutenance
• lieutenant civil
• lieutenant criminel
• lieutenant général
• lieutenant-colonel
• lieutenant-gouverneur
• sous-lieutenant

 

Descendants

• → Danish: løjtnant
  • → Faroese: loytnantur
• → Romansch: litinent

Further reading

• “lieutenant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle French

Noun

lieutenant m (plural lieutenants)

1. lieutenant (person who executes the plans and directives of another)

Descendants

• → German: Leutnant, Leutenant (archaic), Lieutenant (archaic)
  • → Estonian: leitnant
  • → Lower Sorbian: leutnant
• → English: lieutenant, leftenant, leftenaunt, lieftenant, lieftenaunt, lieutenaunt (obsolete)
  • → Irish: leifteanant
  • → Malay: leftenan
  • → Swahili: luteni
• French: lieutenant
  • → Danish: løjtnant
    • → Faroese: loytnantur
  • → Romansch: litinent