insurgent

English

WOTD – 3 March 2011

Etymology

From Latin īnsurgentem, accusative singular of īnsurgēns, present active participle of īnsurgō (“to rise up against, revolt”), from in (“against”) + surgō (“to rise”), itself from sub (“up from below”) + regō (“to guide, direct, rule, govern, administer”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to move in a straight line, to rule, guide, lead straight, put right”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈsəːdʒ(ə)nt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈsəɹd͡ʒənt/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dʒənt

Adjective

insurgent (not comparable)

1. Rebellious, opposing authority.
   • 1856, John Lothrop Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic:

     The insurgent provinces.

   • 2008 November 15, “U.S.: Afghan insurgent leader captured”, in CNN‎^[1], archived from the original on 22 January 2009:

     Afghan National Police, backed by U.S.-led coalition forces, detained an insurgent leader during a raid in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, a U.S. military statement said.

   • 2017 November 7, Eugene D., “Sutherland Springs Shooter Member of Far-Right Neo-Nazi Group “Atomwaffen””, in Medium‎^[2], archived from the original on 23 April 2023:

     Immediately following the shooting, there were multiple, coordinated information releases blaming the shooting on “Antifa,” the newest alt-right boogeyman, in what appears to be a social media blitz intended to center the conversation on the left wing. This is part of an ongoing propaganda campaign by the insurgent right wing extremists to paint radical pro-labor activists as ultraviolent “terrorists.”

2. Of water: surging or rushing in.
   • 1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, page 33:

     Vesuvio groans through all his echoing caves, / And Etna thunders o'er the insurgent waves.

Translations

rebellious

• Armenian: ապստամբած (apstambac), ապստամբ (hy) (apstamb)
• Bulgarian: бунтовен (bg) (buntoven), бунтовнически (bg) (buntovničeski)
• Catalan: insurgent (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: vzbouřený, vzbouřenecký, povstalecký
• Danish: oprørsk
• Dutch: opstandig (nl)
• Finnish: kapinallinen (fi)
• French: insurgé (fr)
• Georgian: მეამბოხეთა (meamboxeta)
• German: aufständisch (de), aufrührerisch (de)
• Japanese: 謀叛 (ja) (むほん, muhon), 反逆 (ja) (はんぎゃく, hangyaku)
• Khmer: ដែលបះបោរ (dael bah bao)
• Latin: rebellis
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: opprørsk

  Nynorsk: opprørsk

• Portuguese: insurgente (pt)
• Russian: мяте́жный (ru) (mjatéžnyj), восста́вший (ru) (vosstávšij), разбушева́вшийся (ru) (razbuševávšijsja)
• Spanish: insurgente (es)
• Welsh: gwrthryfelgar (cy)

Noun

insurgent (plural insurgents)

1. One of several people who take up arms against the local state authority; a participant in insurgency.

Translations

rebel

• Arabic: مُتَمَرِّد m (mutamarrid), ثَائِر m (ṯāʔir), عَاصٍ m (ʕāṣin), عُصَاة pl (ʕuṣāh)
• Armenian: ապստամբ (hy) (apstamb)
• Azerbaijani: üsyançı
• Belarusian: бунтаўшчы́к m (buntawščýk), паўста́нец m (pawstánjec), бунта́р m (buntár)
• Bengali: বিদ্রোহী (bn) (bidrōhi)
• Bulgarian: мете́жник (bg) m (metéžnik), въста́ник (bg) m (vǎstánik), бунто́вник (bg) m (buntóvnik), бунта́р (bg) m (buntár)
• Catalan: insurgent (ca) m or f
• Chechen: гӏаттамхо (ğattamxo)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 反叛份子 (zh) (fǎnpàn fènzi), 起義者 / 起义者 (zh) (qǐyìzhě), 叛亂者 / 叛乱者 (zh) (pànluànzhě), 造反者 (zh) (zàofǎnzhě)

• Czech: povstalec m, vzbouřenec m
• Danish: oprører c
• Dutch: opstandeling (nl) m, rebel (nl) m
• Finnish: kapinallinen (fi)
• French: insurgé (fr) m, insurgée (fr) f
• Georgian: მეამბოხე (meamboxe)
• German: Aufständischer (de) m, Insurgent (de) m
• Greek: αντάρτης (el) m (antártis), επαναστάτης (el) m (epanastátis)
• Hebrew: מתקומם m (mitkomaym)
• Hindi: बाग़ी m (bāġī), विद्रोही (hi) m (vidrohī)
• Hungarian: felkelő (hu)
• Indonesian: pendurhaka (id)
• Italian: insorto (it) m, insorta (it) f
• Japanese: 謀叛人 (ja) (むほんにん, muhonnin), 反逆者 (ja) (はんぎゃくしゃ, hangyakusha)
• Kazakh: көтерілісші (köterılısşı)
• Khmer: អ្នកបះបោរ (nĕək bah bao), កុបករ (km) (kopaʼkɑɑ)
• Korean: 반역자(反逆者) (ko) (banyeokja)
• Kyrgyz: көтөрүлүшчү (kötörülüşcü), козголоңчу (kozgoloŋcu)
• Lao: ກະບົດ (ka bot), ຜູ້ກໍ່ເຫດ (phū kǭ hēt)
• Latin: rebellis m
• Macedonian: бунтовник m (buntovnik), востаник m (vostanik)
• Māori: hauhau
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: босогч (mn) (bosogč)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: opprører m

  Nynorsk: opprørar m

• Persian: شورشی (fa) (šureši)
• Polish: rebeliant (pl) m, rebeliantka f
• Portuguese: insurgente (pt) m or f
• Russian: мяте́жник (ru) m (mjatéžnik), повста́нец (ru) m (povstánec), бунтовщи́к (ru) m (buntovščík), инсурге́нт (ru) m (insurgént) (rare)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: побуњѐнӣк m, побуњѐница f, у̀станӣк m, у̀станица f

  Latin: pobunjènīk (sh) m, pobunjènica (sh) f, ùstanīk (sh) m, ùstanica (sh) f, bùntōvnīk (sh) m, bùntōvnica (sh) f

• Slovak: povstalec m, burič m, vzbúrenec m
• Slovene: upornik (sl) m
• Spanish: insurgente (es) m or f
• Tajik: исёнгар (isyongar), шӯришгар (šürišgar)
• Thai: กบฏ (th) (gà-bòt)
• Turkish: isyancı (tr)
• Ukrainian: повста́нець m (povstánecʹ), бунтівни́к (uk) m (buntivnýk), бунта́р (uk) m (buntár), інсурге́нт m (insurhént) (dated)
• Urdu: باغی m (bāġī)
• Uzbek: isyonchi (uz)
• Vietnamese: người khởi nghĩa
• Welsh: gwrthryfelwr m

Derived terms

• counterinsurgent
• insurgentism
• insurgently

Anagrams

• retunings, unresting

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin īnsurgentem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [in.surˈʒen]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [in.surˈʒent]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [in.suɾˈd͡ʒent]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ent

Adjective

insurgent m or f (masculine and feminine plural insurgents)

1. insurgent

Noun

insurgent m or f by sense (plural insurgents)

1. insurgent

Related terms

• insurgència

Further reading

• “insurgent”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “insurgent”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “insurgent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “insurgent”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

French

Verb

insurgent

1. third-person plural present indicative/subjunctive of insurger

Latin

Verb

īnsurgent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of īnsurgō

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin insurgens or German Insurgent.

Noun

insurgent m (plural insurgenți)

1. insurgent

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	insurgent	insurgentul	insurgenți	insurgenții
genitive-dative	insurgent	insurgentului	insurgenți	insurgenților
vocative	insurgentule		insurgenților