Sergeant
enlisted rank
Sergeant (Sgt) is a rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, serjeant, is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage from the British light infantry. The word "sergeant" derives from the Latin serviens, 'one who serves', through the Old French term serjant.
In modern hierarchies the term sergeant refers to a non-commissioned officer positioned above the rank of corporal, or to a police officer immediately below a lieutenant in the United States, or below an inspector in the United Kingdom. In most armies, a sergeant commands a squad or a section. In Commonwealth armies, it is a more senior rank, corresponding roughly to a platoon second-in-command. In the United States Army, sergeant is a more junior rank corresponding to a fireteam leader or assistant squad-leader; while in the United States Marine Corps the rank is typically held by squad leaders.
More senior non-commissioned ranks often have titles with variations on "sergeant", for example: staff sergeant, gunnery sergeant, master sergeant, first sergeant, and sergeant major.
In many nations and services, the rank insignia for a sergeant consists of three chevrons.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Sergeant” as enlisted rank. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as enlisted rank. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q157696. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Sergeant” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.