French Conversation · Level 105
58 words
French word
tercio
Pronunciation
IPA/tɛʁsjo/
Meaning
- masculine nountercio
Example
Au XVIe siècle, le tercio formait une puissante unité d'infanterie.
In the 16th century, the tercio formed a powerful infantry unit.
More examples
Tu sais ce que signifie tercio ?
Do you know what tercio means?
Core concept
A powerful early-modern Spanish infantry unit arranged as a dense mixed formation of melee weapons and guns.
Definition in French
Mot d'origine espagnole employé pour parler d'une formation d'infanterie lourde espagnole de la période moderne, organisée pour mêler armes de mêlée et armes à feu.
Word origin
The French military term tercio comes from Spanish tercio and ultimately from Latin tertius, 'third', reflecting the formation's historical association with a division into three parts.
Usage tips
- In French, tercio mainly belongs to historical and military writing, while context is needed if it appears in discussions of bullfighting's third stage.
Other meanings
- third stagenoun