regimental

Etymology

It is formed from English regiment + -al.^[2][3][4][5] Regiment is from Old French regiment (“government, rule”), from Late Latin regimentum (“rule, direction”), from regō (“to rule, direct”).^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to a regiment: 1629, in F. Malthus's translation of a treatise on artificial fireworks.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and the 1989 edition of the OED give 1659,^[6][7] and Etymonline the 1650s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective was soon also used loosely for "military, martial" and figuratively.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "belonging to a regiment; military".^[8] The noun, in the plural regimentals, military uniform, especially that of a particular regiment, is recorded from 1728;^[2][6] Etymonline dates it to 1742,^[3] and Dickens used it for prison clothes in Oliver Twist (1838).^[2] In the 19th century the adjective also took the sense "strictly regulated, regimented" (1845),^[2][6] and in military slang from 1919 it described a person who keeps strict discipline.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1629 – of or relating to a regiment; military.^[2]
• 1728 – noun, in the plural, military uniform.^[2][6]
• 1764 – noun, a military uniform (obsolete by 1840).^[2]
• 1845 – strictly ordered, regimented.^[2]
• 1919 – of a person, strict in discipline (military slang).^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, belonging to or used by a regiment: the regimental band.^[6][2][4]
2. Strictly ordered or regulated; tending to regimentation.^[6][2]
3. Of a person, maintaining strict discipline or protocol (originally military slang).^[2][4]

Noun

1. regimentals: the uniform of a regiment; military dress.^[6][2][4]
2. regimentals: special clothing required for a particular activity.^[6]

Word family

• regimentally
• interregimental
• nonregimental
• unregimental

Related words

• regiment
• regimentation
• regimen

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.