esprit de corps

English

WOTD – 3 March 2009    

Wikipedia

Etymology

Borrowing from French esprit de corps, from esprit (“spirit”) + de (“of”) + corps (“body”)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ɛˌspɹiː də ˈkɔː/
• (US) IPA: /ɛˌspɹi də ˈkɔɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

esprit de corps (uncountable)

1. (idiomatic) A shared spirit of comradeship, enthusiasm, and devotion to a cause among the members of a group, for example of a military unit.

Synonyms

• (shared spirit): morale, team spirit

Translations

shared spirit of comradeship, enthusiasm, and devotion

• Czech: pocit sounáležitosti (cs) m
• Finnish: yhteishenki (fi)
• French: esprit de corps (fr)

• Norwegian: korpsånd (no) m
• Russian: командный дух (ru) (komándnyj dux) m

References

• esprit in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

---

French

Etymology

esprit (spirit) + de (of) + corps (group, body).

Noun

esprit de corps

1. literally, the "spirit of the group." The common spirit.