cipaye

From Turkish sipahi, from Persian سپاهي (sipāhī) ‘horseman, soldier’ (> English sepoy), from سپاه (sipāh) ‘army’.

cipaye m (plural cipayes)

1. A native Indian infantry soldier in a French colonial regiment prior to 1898, when they were disbanded and replaced by a locally recruited gendarmerie. Cipayes were the French equivalent of the Indian sepoys in British service.

• spahi m

• “cipaye” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).