lieutenant

C2+ Topic:War & Conflict

US /luˈtɛnənt/ UK /lɛfˈtɛnənt/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a deputy or a junior commissioned military or police officer

The lieutenant relayed the captain's orders to the squad.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a deputy or a junior... deputy officer subordinate aide second

Opposites

superior commander chief

Word family

Derived forms lieutenancy

Related forms tenant tenancy tenure

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

lieutenant governor
an official who serves as a deputy to a state governor

Noun + noun

Simplified etymology

Lieutenant comes from French lieu, “place,” and tenant, “holding,” and therefore originally described someone holding another person’s place. It was once a general term for a substitute but became a title for a military or other officer by the mid-16th century.

Etymology

From Old French lieutenant ('place-holder, deputy'), a compound of lieu ('place', from Latin locus) and tenant ('holding', present participle of tenir 'to hold', from Latin tenēre).

lieu Old French tenēre Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

War & Conflict Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# lieutenant

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /luˈtɛnənt/
**IPA (UK):** /lɛfˈtɛnənt/

## Meanings
1. a deputy or a junior commissioned military or police officer

## Examples
- The lieutenant relayed the captain's orders to the squad.

## Synonyms
- deputy
- officer
- subordinate
- aide
- second

## Antonyms
- superior
- commander
- chief

## Derived Forms
- lieutenancy

## Related Forms
- tenant
- tenancy
- tenure

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: lieu
- Root: tenēre

## Etymology
From Old French lieutenant ('place-holder, deputy'), a compound of lieu ('place', from Latin locus) and tenant ('holding', present participle of tenir 'to hold', from Latin tenēre).

## AI Etymology
Lieutenant comes from Old French lieutenant ('place-holder, deputy'), a compound of lieu ('place', from Latin locus) and tenant ('holding', present participle of tenir 'to hold', from Latin tenēre). The etymological trail includes Old French lieu and Latin tenēre. As a noun, lieutenant means a deputy or a junior commissioned military or police officer. The same family is visible in derived forms such as lieutenancy and related forms such as tenant, tenancy, and tenure.

## Topics
- War & Conflict
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown