English → Latin
“infantry” in Latin
peditātusfoot soldiers, infantrypedeswalker (one who walks); foot soldier, infantryman, infantry; pawnexercitusexercise; trouble, affliction; an exercised, disciplined body of men, an armycohorsa court; a farmyard or enclosure; a retinue or escortmīlesA soldier.; A knight.; A man in boardgames such as ludus latrunculi and chess.virman (adult male human); brave or courageous man, hero, warrior; husbandhomō̆human, person, man; male human being, man; term of address to male peers, especially by another man: man, fellow, mate,
The English word infantry itself goes back to Latin for, through īnfāns.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
infantry
peditatus: pedites: copiae pedestres: exercitus pedester. The infantry, as opposed to “cavalry,” are mostly denoted by the historians simply by exercitus, cohortes, milites; also by viri, homines; hence frequently milites equitesque, exercitus equitatusque, exercitus cum equitatu, equites virique, homines equitesque (☞ Herzog, and Maeb., Caes., B.G., 5, 10; 7, 61). Light infantry, pedites levis armaturae: heavy-armed infantry, pedites gravis armaturae: gravius peditum agmen (on their march).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for infantry?
- The usual Latin words for “infantry” are peditātus, pedes, exercitus; also cohors, mīles, vir. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.