gendarmerie

noun zhen-dar-meh-REE Rare

Origin: French loanword: gens d'armes (men-at-arms).

Usage Note

Gendarmerie is a French borrowing used in Italian to refer specifically to the French national police force or similar paramilitary police corps in other countries (e.g., the Vatican's Gendarmeria). It is feminine and invariable in the borrowed form. The Italianised spelling gendarmeria is the standard Italian word for the institution.

Examples

"La gendarmerie francese pattugliava la zona."

Natural Translation

The French gendarmerie was patrolling the area.

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