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platoon.

A unit of thirty to forty soldiers typically commanded by a lieutenant and forming part of a company.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/pləˈtuːn/UK
  1. A unit of thirty to forty soldiers typically commanded by a lieutenant and forming part of a company.

  2. A subdivision of a fire company, led by a captain or lieutenant.

  3. A group of self-driving vehicles travelling in a close convoy and communicating electronically with each other.

  4. A group of children in the platoon grouping education system.

    historical
Where this word comes from

From obsolete French plauton, variant of peloton, from Middle French pelote + -on. Doublet of peloton. Compare pellet.

verb/pləˈtuːn/UK
  1. To alternate starts with a teammate of opposite handedness, depending on the handedness of the opposing pitcher

    Taylor has been hitting poorly against left-handers, and Morgan has been hitting poorly against right-handers, so they will platoon.
  2. To specialize in a particular position or playing style.

  3. Of self-driving vehicles: to travel in a close convoy, each vehicle communicating electronically with the others.

Where this word comes from

From obsolete French plauton, variant of peloton, from Middle French pelote + -on. Doublet of peloton. Compare pellet.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.