Lieutenant

A lieutenant (UK: /lɛfˈtɛnənt/ lef-TEN-ənt, US: /luː-/ loo-;^[1] abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, security services and police forces.

The rank in armies and air forces is often subdivided into multiple subcategories of seniority. In English-speaking navies, lieutenants are often equivalent to the army rank of captain; in other navies, the lieutenants are usually equal to their army counterparts.

Lieutenant may also appear as part of a title used in various other organisations with a codified command structure. It often designates someone who is "second-in-command", and as such, may precede the name of the rank directly above it. For example, a "lieutenant master" is likely to be second-in-command to the "master" in an organisation using both ranks.

Political uses include lieutenant governor in various governments, such as the viceregal representatives of the Crown in Canadian provinces. In the United Kingdom, a lord lieutenant is the sovereign's representative in a county or lieutenancy area, while a deputy lieutenant is one of the lord lieutenant's deputies.

Etymology

The word lieutenant derives from French; the lieu meaning "place" as in a position (cf. in lieu of); and tenant meaning "holding" as in "holding a position"; thus a "lieutenant" is a placeholder for a superior, during their absence (compare the Latin locum tenens).

In the 19th century, British writers who considered this word either an imposition on the English language, or difficult for common soldiers and sailors, argued for it to be replaced by the calque "steadholder". However, their efforts failed, and the French word is still used, along with its many variations (e.g. lieutenant colonel, lieutenant general, lieutenant commander, flight lieutenant, second lieutenant and many non-English language examples), in both the Old and the New World.^{[citation needed]}

Pronunciation

Pronunciation of lieutenant as /lɛfˈtɛnənt/ ^ⓘ lef-TEN-ənt is generally associated with the armies of British Commonwealth countries, while /luːˈtɛnənt/ ^ⓘ loo-TEN-ənt is generally associated with the United States military.^[2] The early history of the pronunciation is unclear; Middle English spellings suggest that both pronunciations may have existed even then.^[3] The majority of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century sources show pronunciations with /v/ or /f/, but Bullokar has /liu/.^[4]

The rare Old French variant spelling leuf for Modern French lieu ('place') supports the suggestion that a final of the Old French word was in certain environments perceived as an .^[3] Furthermore, in Latin, the lingua franca of the era,^[when?] the letter ⟨v⟩ is used for both [u] and [v]. In Royal Naval (RN) tradition—and other English-speaking navies outside the United States—a reduced pronunciation /ləˈtɛnənt/ ^ⓘ is used. This is not recognised as current by recent editions of the OED (although the RN pronunciation was included in editions of the OED up until the 1970s).

Military rank

Lieutenant

The senior grade of lieutenant is known as first lieutenant in the United States, and as lieutenant in the United Kingdom and the rest of the English-speaking world. In countries that do not speak English, the rank title usually translates as "lieutenant", but may also translate as "first lieutenant" or "senior lieutenant". The Israel Defense Forces rank segen (סגן) literally translates as "deputy", which is equivalent to a lieutenant. In the Finnish military there is a senior lieutenant grade that ranks above lieutenant and second lieutenant but below captain; it does not have an English equivalent. In Germany it is called Oberleutnant (senior lieutenant).

Army rank

Conventionally, armies and other services or branches that use army-style rank titles have two grades of lieutenant, but a few also use a third, more junior, rank. Historically, the "lieutenant" was the deputy to a "captain", and as the rank structure of armies began to formalise, this came to mean that a captain commanded a company and had several lieutenants, each commanding a platoon. Where more junior officers were employed as deputies to the lieutenant, they went by many names, including second lieutenant, sub-lieutenant, ensign and cornet. Some parts of the British Army, including the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers and fusilier regiments, used first lieutenant as well as second lieutenant until the end of the 19th century, and some British Army regiments still preserve cornet as an official alternative to second lieutenant.

There is great variation in the insignia used worldwide. In most English-speaking and Arabic-speaking countries, as well as a number of European and South American nations, full lieutenants (and equivalents) usually wear two stars (pips) and second lieutenants (and equivalents) one. An example of an exception is the United States, whose armed forces distinguish their lieutenant ranks with a silver bar for first lieutenant and a gold bar for second lieutenant.