brigadier

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French brigadier. Equivalent to brigade +‎ -ier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɹɪɡəˈdɪɚ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Noun

brigadier (plural brigadiers)

1. (military) An army rank; an officer commanding a brigade.
2. (military, UK) A field officer of the highest grade, below general officers, NATO grade OF-7.
3. Ellipsis of brigadier general.
4. (historical) The head of a workforce in the Soviet Union.
   • 1952, The Soviet Bloc as Reported by Former Nationals Interview Report:

     The supervisory staff of the farm did their work well, according to the source. All the brigadiers were old, experienced workers who knew their business.

Synonyms

• brigadier general
• senior colonel

Coordinate terms

• commodore

Derived terms

• brigadier general
• brigadiership
• subbrigadier

Descendants

• → Afrikaans: brigadier
• → Malay: brigedier
• → Swahili: brigedia

Translations

an army rank

• Afrikaans: brigadier
• Arabic: عميد
• Bashkir: бригадир (brigadir)
• Bulgarian: бригаден генерал m (brigaden general)
• Catalan: brigadier m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 准將 (zh) (zhǔnjiàng)

• Danish: brigadegeneral (da) c
• Dutch: brigadegeneraal (nl) m
• Finnish: prikaatinkomentaja, prikaatinkenraali (fi)
• French: brigadier (fr) m, brigadière (fr) f
• Greek: ταξίαρχος (el) m (taxíarchos)
• Hindi: ब्रिगेडियर (hi) m (brigeḍiyar)
• Hungarian: dandártábornok (hu), brigadéros (hu) (archaic)
• Italian: brigadiere (it) m, brigadiere generale m
• Japanese: 准将 (ja) (じゅんしょう, junshō)
• Kazakh: бригадир (brigadir)
• Kyrgyz: бригадир (ky) (brigadir)
• Macedonian: бригадир m (brigadir)
• Malay: brigedier
• Māori: pirikitia
• Marathi: ब्रिगेडियर m (brigeḍiyar)
• Polish: brygadier (pl) m
• Portuguese: brigadeiro (pt) m
• Romanian: brigadier (ro) m, brigadieră (ro) f
• Russian: бригади́р (ru) m (brigadír), брига́дный генера́л m (brigádnyj generál) (US army, "brigadier general")
• Serbo-Croatian: brigadir (sh) m, brigàdīrka (sh) f
• Slovene: brigadir m, brigadirka f
• Spanish: brigadier (es) m
• Turkish: tuğgeneral (tr)
• Ukrainian: бригадир (uk) m (bryhadyr)

See also

• commodore admiral
• fleet captain
• rear admiral (lower half)
• senior captain

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “brigadier”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Further reading

• brigadier on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• air bridge, airbridge

Afrikaans

Etymology

Borrowed from English brigadier.

Noun

brigadier (plural brigadiers)

1. (military, historical) Most senior field officer rank, similar usage to the English term in the United Kingdom; brigadier

References

• Smaldone, Joseph P. (1997). "National Security". In Byrnes, Rita M. (ed.). South Africa: a country study. Area Handbook (3rd ed.). Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. pp. 378.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French brigadier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbri.ɣaːˈdiːr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bri‧ga‧dier
• Rhymes: -iːr

Noun

brigadier m (plural brigadiers, no diminutive)

1. constable (police officer of some seniority)
2. (historical) brigadier, corporal, or a colonel in charge of a brigade

Descendants

• → Indonesian: brigadir
• → Papiamentu: brigadir
• → Sranan Tongo: brigadiri

French

Etymology

From brigade +‎ -ier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁi.ɡa.dje/

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -je
• Homophone: brigadiers

Noun

brigadier m (plural brigadiers, feminine brigadière)

1. brigadier (military)
2. (cavalry) Military rank equivalent to corporal
3. crossing guard
   • 2023 February 1 (last accessed), Careers - Jobs - Ottawa Safety Council‎^[1]:

     Être Brigadier

     Become a Crossing Guard

Derived terms

• bricard
• brigadier scolaire
• brigadier-chef
• brigadier-général
• sous-brigadier

Descendants

• → Dutch: brigadier
  • → Indonesian: brigadir
  • → Papiamentu: brigadir
  • → Sranan Tongo: brigadiri
• → English: brigadier
• → Romanian: brigadier
• → Spanish: brigadier

Further reading

• “brigadier”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French brigadier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bri.ɡa.diˈer/

Noun

brigadier m (plural brigadieri, feminine equivalent brigadieră)

1. brigadier (military)
2. forester (forestry)

   Synonyms: brigadier silvic, brigadier forestier

3. (dated) brigadier general

   Synonym: general de brigadă

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	brigadier	brigadierul	brigadieri	brigadierii
genitive-dative	brigadier	brigadierului	brigadieri	brigadierilor
vocative	brigadierule		brigadierilor

Related terms

• brigadă

References

• “brigadier”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɾiɡaˈdjeɾ/ [bɾi.ɣ̞aˈð̞jeɾ]
• Rhymes: -eɾ
• Syllabification: bri‧ga‧dier

Noun

brigadier m (plural brigadieres or brigadiers)

1. brigadier

Further reading

• “brigadier”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025