cipaye
French
Etymology
From Turkish sipahi, from Persian سپاهي (sipāhī) ‘horseman, soldier’ (> English sepoy), from سپاه (sipāh) ‘army’.
Noun
cipaye m (plural cipayes)
- A native Indian infantry soldier in a French colonial regiment prior to 1898, when they were disbanded and replaced by a locally recruited gendarmerie. Cipayes were the French equivalent of the Indian sepoys in British service.
Related terms
- spahi m
Further reading
- “cipaye” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
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