sipaio

Portuguese

Alternative forms

cipaio
sipai
sipae (obsolete)
cipayo (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Urdu سِپَاہِی (sipāhī), from Classical Persian (sipāhī, “soldier, horseman”), from (sipāh, “army”).

Pronunciation

(Brazil) IPA^(key): /siˈpaj.u/ [siˈpaɪ̯.u]
- (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /siˈpaj.o/ [siˈpaɪ̯.o]

(Portugal) IPA^(key): /siˈpaj.u/

Hyphenation: si‧pai‧o

Noun

sipaio m (plural sipaios)

(historical, military) sepoy (native soldier of the East Indies)

Descendants

→ English: sepoy
- → Dutch: sepoy, sipoy
  - → Indonesian: sepoy
- → German: Sepoy
- → Italian: sepoy
- → Swedish: sepoy
  - → Finnish: sepoy
- → Turkish: sepoy

Further reading

“sipaio”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
“sipaio”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026