ensign

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɛnsɪn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnsən

Noun

ensign (plural ensigns)

1. A badge of office, rank, or power
2. The lowest grade of commissioned officer in the United States Navy, junior to a lieutenant junior grade.
3. A flag or banner carried by military units. See standard, color, colour.
4. (nautical) The principal flag or banner flown by a ship to indicate nationality.
5. A junior commissioned officer in the 18th and 19th Centuries whose duty was to carry the unit's ensign.
6. A prominent flag or banner.

   Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced. -Milton, Paradise Lost.

Translations

military officer

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 少尉 (cmn) (shǎowèi)

• Dutch: vaandrig (nl) m
• Finnish: aliluutnantti (fi)
• French: aspirant (fr) m
• German: Fähnrich (de) m
• Japanese: 少慰 (ja) (しょうい, shōi)
• Norwegian: fenrik (no) m

• Portuguese: alferes (pt) m
• Russian: прапорщик (ru) (práporščik) m
• Serbo-Croatian: zastavnik (sh) m, zastavnica (sh) f
• Slovene: zastávnik (sl) m, zastávnica (sl) f, praporščak (sl) m, praporščakinja (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: chórgojnik m

banner

• Bulgarian: флаг (bg) (flag) m, знаме (bg) (zname) n
• Dutch: vaandel (nl) n
• French: pavillon (fr) m
• German: Fahne (de) f

• Norwegian: fane (no) m and f
• Russian: знамя (ru) (známja) n
• Scots: ensenyie
• Spanish: enseña (es) f

Verb

ensign (third-person singular simple present ensigns, present participle ensigning, simple past and past participle ensigned)

1. (obsolete) To designate as by an ensign.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Ben Jonson,:

     Henry but joined the roses that ensigned Particular families.

2. To distinguish by a mark or ornament
3. (heraldry) To distinguish by an ornament, especially by a crown.

   Any charge which has a crown immediately above or upon it, is said to be ensigned.