regiment

From Middle French regement, régiment, and its source, Late Latin regimentum (“direction for government; course of medical treatment”), from Latin regō (“rule”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛd͡ʒɪmənt/

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regiment (plural regiments)

1. (military) A unit of armed troops under the command of an officer, and consisting of several smaller units; now specifically, usually composed of two or more battalions. [from 16th c.]
   • 1900 December – 1901 October, Rudyard Kipling, chapter III, in Kim (Macmillan’s Colonial Library; no. 414), London: Macmillan and Co., published 1901, →OCLC, page 65:

     It was an old, withered man, who had served the Government in the days of the Mutiny as a native officer in a newly raised cavalry regiment.

   • 2005 April 28, Nicholas Watt, Michael White, The Guardian:

     As the prime minister insisted that he had "never told a lie" in his life, the Tory leader attacked him for ordering Scottish troops into battle with no warning that their regiments would be disbanded.

2. (now rare, archaic) Rule or governance over a person, place etc.; government, authority. [from 14th c.]
   • 1576, Abraham Fleming, translating Cicero, A Panoplie of Epistles,&bnsp;XXXIII:

     What place is there in all the world, not ſubiect to the regiment and power of this citie?

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, page 116:

     Then loyall loue had royall regiment,
     And each vnto his luſt did make a lawe,
     From all forbidden things his liking to withdraw.

   • 1832, John Austin, The Province of Jurisprudence Determined,&bnsp;VI:

     And how is it possible to distinguish precisely […] the powers of ecclesiastical regiment which none but the church should wield from the powers of ecclesiastical regiment (on the jus circa sacra) which secular and profane governments may handle without sin?

3. (obsolete) The state or office of a ruler; rulership. [14th–17th c.]
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene i:

     But this it is that doth excruciate
     The verie ſubſtance of my vexed ſoule:
     To ſee our neighbours that were wont to quake
     And tremble at the Perſean Monarkes name,
     Now ſits and laughs our regiment to ſcorne, […]

4. (obsolete) Influence or control exercised by someone or something (especially a planet). [14th–17th c.]
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vii:

     Nature that fram’d vs of foure Elements,
     Warring within our breaſts for regiment,
     Doth teach vs all to haue aſpyring minds:

5. (obsolete) A place under a particular rule; a kingdom or domain. [14th–17th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 324:

     An auncient booke […]
     That of this lands firſt conqueſt did deuize,
     And old diuiſion into Regiments, […]

6. (obsolete, medicine) A regimen. [15th–19th c.]

regiment (third-person singular simple present regiments, present participle regimenting, simple past and past participle regimented)

1. (transitive) To form soldiers into a regiment.
   • J. W. Powell

     The people are organized or regimented into bodies, and special functions are relegated to the several units.

2. (transitive) To systematize, or put in rigid order.
   • 2015 March 22, Washington Post, Lee Kuan Yew, who led Singapore into prosperity over 30-year rule, dies at 91‎:

     The result was a tidy, law-abiding country, but one that visitors often described as regimented, sterile and dull.

• metering

Borrowed from Late Latin regimentum.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [rə.ʒiˈmen]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [rə.ʒiˈment]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [re.d͡ʒiˈment]
• Rhymes: -ent

regiment m (plural regiments)

1. regiment

• regimental
• regimentar

• “regiment” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “regiment”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “regiment” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “regiment” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

From Middle Dutch regiment. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

• IPA^(key): /ˌreː.ʒiˈmɛnt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: re‧gi‧ment
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

regiment n (plural regimenten, diminutive regimentje n)

1. regiment (division of an army)

   Het regiment trok ten strijde onder leiding van hun kolonel. ― The regiment went into battle under the leadership of their colonel.

   Hij diende vijf jaar in een infanterieregiment. ― He served for five years in an infantry regiment.

   De troepen van dat regiment staan bekend om hun discipline. ― The troops of that regiment are known for their discipline.

2. regimen, regime (particular system of enforcing discipline)
3. (obsolete) rulership, governance, rule
   • 1628, Philips Marnix van Sint Aldegonde, "Wilhelmus van Nassouwe", (modern, redacted version), couplet 2.

     Maar God zal mij regeren / als een goed instrument, / dat ik zal wederkeren / in mijnen regiment.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• → Indonesian: resimen (“division of an army”)
• → Papiamentu: resjiment

From German Regiment (“regiment”), from Medieval Latin regimentum, from Latin regimen (“rule, direction”), from regō (“I rule”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈrɛɡimɛnt]
• Hyphenation: re‧gi‧ment
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

regiment (plural regimentek)

1. (archaic) regiment

   Synonym: ezred

• regiment in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

From Late Latin regimentum.

regiment n (definite singular regimentet, indefinite plural regiment or regimenter, definite plural regimenta or regimentene)

1. (military) a regiment

• “regiment” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Late Latin regimentum.

regiment n (definite singular regimentet, indefinite plural regiment, definite plural regimenta)

1. (military) a regiment

• “regiment” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Borrowed from Late Latin regimentum.

• IPA^(key): /rɛˈɡi.mɛnt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -imɛnt
• Syllabification: re‧gi‧ment

regiment m inan

1. (historical, military) regiment (infantry or cavalry regiment in foreign armies in Poland in the 17th and 18th centuries)

• regiment in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from French régiment.

regiment n (plural regimente)

1. regiment

regiment n

1. (military) regiment