兵へい隊たい

へ

い

た

い

Common wordJLPTN2Freq.FrequencyTop 20,000

Meanings

Refers to the military as an organization or collective body of soldiers. Often used in formal or historical contexts.

〈人ひと〉が兵へい隊たいに行いくfor someone to go off to serve as a soldier
祖そ父ふは若わかいころ兵へい隊たいに行いった。
My grandfather went off to be a soldier when he was young.
兵へい隊たいを送おくるto send troops (somewhere)
政せい府ふは国こっ境きょうに兵へい隊たいを送おくった。
The government sent troops to the border.
〈人ひと〉の兵へい隊たいのように働はたらくto work like someone's underling, doing all the grunt work
新しん人じんはいつも上じょう司しの兵へい隊たいのように働はたらいている。
The new employee is always working like the boss's errand boy.
兵へい隊たいになるto become a soldier
彼かれは18歳さいで兵へい隊たいになった。
He became a soldier at the age of 18.

軍ぐん隊たいN3sense 1
軍隊 refers to the military as an organized institution, while 兵隊 more often points to the troops or individual soldiers within it.
兵へい士しN1sense 2
兵士 is a formal, literary word for 'soldier', whereas 兵隊 is the everyday, more colloquial term for an ordinary enlisted man.
軍ぐん勢ぜい
兵隊 usually means soldiers or troops in a plain, everyday sense, while 軍勢 conveys a large assembled force, often in historical or dramatic contexts.
軍ぐん兵ぴょう
兵隊 is a common, everyday word for soldiers or troops, while 軍兵 sounds more formal or archaic.

将しょう校こう sense 2
将校 means a commissioned officer, the opposite rank from 兵隊, which denotes a rank-and-file soldier.

兵へい器きN1sense 1
兵器 means 'weapon' and shares the kanji 兵 with 兵隊, but it refers to equipment, not people.
軍ぐんN3
兵隊 refers to individual rank-and-file soldiers, while 軍 refers to the larger military organization or force as a whole, so learners often confuse the scope of the two.

Compound of 兵 (hei, 'soldier') and 隊 (tai, 'group, corps'). The word has been used since the Meiji era to refer to military personnel and units.