troop

See also: Troop

English

A troop train in Canada during World War I.

Etymology

Attested in English since 1545, from French troupe (back-formation of troupeau, diminutive of Medieval Latin troppus "flock") and Middle French trouppe (from Old French trope (“band, company, troop”)), both of Germanic origin from Frankish *thorp (“assembly, gathering”), from Proto-Germanic *þurpą (“village, land, estate”), from Proto-Indo-European *treb- (“dwelling, settlement”). Doublet of troupe, and possibly also of thorp and dorp.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɹuːp/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• IPA^(key): /tɹup/
• Rhymes: -uːp
• Homophone: troupe

Noun

troop (plural troops)

1. (collective) A collection of people; a number; a multitude (in general).
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

     That which should accompany old age — / As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends — / I must not look to have.

2. (military) A small unit of cavalry or armour commanded by a captain, corresponding to a platoon or company of infantry.
3. A detachment of soldiers or police, especially horse artillery, armour, or state troopers.
4. Soldiers, military forces (usually "troops").
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:

     Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars.

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 1, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     His troops moved to victory with the precision of machines.

5. (nonstandard) A company of stageplayers; a troupe.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of W. Coxe to this entry?)

6. (scouting) A chapter of a national girl or boy scouts organization, consisting of one or more patrols of 6 to 8 youngsters each.
   • Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell (1920) Aids To Scoutmastership‎^[1], page 6: “It is the Patrol System that makes the Troop, and all Scouting for that matter, a real co-operative effort.”
7. (collective) A group of baboons.
8. A particular roll of the drum; a quick march.
9. (mycology) Mushrooms that are in a close group but not close enough to be called a cluster.

Derived terms

• troop carrier
• trooper
• troop horse
• troopship
• troop train

Translations

collection of people

• Catalan: colla (ca) f, tropa (ca) f
• Czech: skupina (cs) f
• Finnish: joukko (fi)
• Galician: tropel m, tropa f
• Irish: cuire m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: truppe (it)
• Latin: caterva f
• Russian: тру́ппа (ru) f (trúppa) (especially of actors), гру́ппа (ru) f (grúppa)
• Swahili: kikosi (sw)
• Tagalog: sampanawan (sampanawan)

small unit of cavalry

• Finnish: komppania (fi)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἴλη f (ílē)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: turma (la) f
• Maori: turupa
• Russian: отря́д (ru) m (otrjád)

detachment of soldiers or police

• Finnish: joukko (fi)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἴλη f (ílē)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: turupa
• Russian: отря́д (ru) m (otrjád), отделе́ние (ru) n (otdelénije)
• Swahili: vikosi (sw)

military forces

• Belarusian: во́йські n pl (vójsʹki)
• Catalan: tropa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 軍隊／军队 (zh) (jūnduì), 军队 (zh) (jūnduì)

• Finnish: joukot (fi) pl
• French: troupes (fr) f pl
• Galician: tropa f
• German: Truppen (de) f pl
• Indonesian: tentara (id)

  Sundanese: tangtara

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 軍隊 (ja) (ぐんたい, guntai)
• Korean: 군대 (ko) (gundae)
• Portuguese: tropa (pt) f
• Russian: войска́ (ru) n pl (vojská)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: trupa (sh)

• Swahili: kikosi (sw)
• Swedish: trupp (sv) c
• Tagalog: sampanawan (sampanawan)
• Ukrainian: війська́ n pl (vijsʹká)

company of stageplayers

• Catalan: soldats (ca) m
• Finnish: ryhmä (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

particular roll of the drum

• Swahili: vikosi (sw)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

unit of girl or boy scouts

• Czech: oddíl (cs) m
• Finnish: vartio (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian: tropp m or f

group of mushrooms

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Verb

troop (third-person singular simple present troops, present participle trooping, simple past and past participle trooped)

1. To move in numbers; to come or gather in crowds or troops.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 5, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.

2. To march on; to go forward in haste.
3. To move or march as if in a crowd.

   The children trooped into the room.

Derived terms

• troop the colour (British, military)

Translations

to move in numbers

• Finnish: marssia (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

to march on; to go forward in haste

• Finnish: marssia (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

to move or march as if in a crowd

• Finnish: marssia (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

See also

• Appendix:English collective nouns

References

• “troop” in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2004.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “troop”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Porto, Proto, porto, porto-, proot, proto, proto-, tropo, tropo-

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

troop f (plural tropen, diminutive troopje n)

1. (music, literature, linguistics) trope