noun · verb · 10 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Received-Pronunciation:/dɹəˈɡuːn/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:/dɹəˈɡun/
General-American:/ˌdɹæˈɡun/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -uːn
1
noun
Meaning 1
Synonym of dragon (“a type of musket with a short, large-calibre barrel and a flared muzzle, metaphorically exhaling fire like a mythical dragon”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical
Topics: engineering, government, military, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, politics, tools, war, weaponry
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: dragon
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
Originally (historical), a soldier armed with a dragoon musket (noun sense 1.1) who fought both on foot and mounted on a horse; now, a cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly
Topics: government, military, politics, war
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
A man with a fierce or unrefined manner, like a dragoon (noun sense 1.2).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
A variety of pigeon, originally a cross between a horseman and a tumbler.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
verb
Meaning 5
To subject (a Huguenot) to the dragonnades (“a policy instituted by Louis XIV of France in 1681 to intimidate Protestant Huguenots to convert to Roman Catholicism by billeting dragoons (noun sense 1.2) in their homes to abuse them and destroy or steal their possessions”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: French, historical, transitive
Topics: Christianity, government, politics
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
6
verb
Meaning 6
Chiefly followed by into: to force (someone) into doing something through harassment and intimidation; to coerce.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: compel
Antonyms: none provided
7
verb
Meaning 7
To cause (someone) to be attacked by dragoons.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly, historical, transitive
Topics: government, military, politics, war
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
8
noun
Meaning 8
a member of a European military unit formerly composed of heavily armed cavalrymen
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: cavalryman, trooper
9
verb
Meaning 9
subjugate by imposing troops
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: subjugate, subject
10
verb
Meaning 10
compel by coercion, threats, or crude means
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
They sandbagged him to make dinner for everyone
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: sandbag, railroad
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: coerce, hale, squeeze, pressure, force
History
Etymology
The noun is borrowed from French dragon (“dragon (mythological creature); type of cavalry soldier, dragoon”) (originally referring to a soldier armed with the firearm of the same name (noun sense 1.1)), ultimately from Latin dracō (“dragon; kind of serpent or snake”), from Ancient Greek δρᾰ́κων (drắkōn, “dragon; serpent”), possibly from δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “to see, see clearly (in the sense of something staring)”), from Proto-Indo-European *derḱ- (“to see”)). Doublet of Draco, Dracon, dracone, and dragon. The verb is either derived: * from the noun; or * from French dragonner (“to force (someone) into doing something, coerce; to torment (oneself)”), from dragon (noun) (see above) + -er (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs).
Across languages
Translations
87 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Afrikaans:
dragonder
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Albanian:
kalorës
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Arabic:
فارِس
(fāris)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Armenian:
դրագուններ
(dragunner)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Azerbaijani:
draqun
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Belarusian:
драгун
(drahun)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Bulgarian:
драгун
(dragun)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Catalan:
dragó
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Chinese Mandarin:
龍騎兵 /龙骑兵
(lóngqíbīng)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Czech:
dragoun
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Danish:
dragon
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Dutch:
dragonder
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Esperanto:
dragono
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Estonian:
tragun
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Finnish:
rakuuna
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
French:
dragon
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
French:
Yes it
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
French:
da
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Galician:
dragón
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Georgian:
დრაგუნი
(draguni)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
German:
Dragoner
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Greek:
δραγόνος
(dragónos)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Hebrew:
דרגון
(dragún)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Hebrew:
פָּרָשׁ
(parásh)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Hungarian:
dragonyos
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Icelandic:
dragóni
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Ido:
dragono
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Indonesian:
dragon
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Irish:
dragún
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Italian:
dragone
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Japanese:
ドラグーン
(doragūn)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Japanese:
竜騎兵
(ryūkihei)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Korean:
용기병
(yonggibyeong)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Latvian:
dragūns
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Lithuanian:
dragūnas
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Macedonian:
драгун
(dragun)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Maltese:
dragun
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Marathi:
ड्रगून
(ḍragūn)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Mongolian:
драгүн
(dragün)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Norwegian Bokmål:
dragon
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Norwegian Nynorsk:
dragon
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Persian:
اسوار
(asvâr)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Polish:
dragon
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Portuguese:
dragão
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Romanian:
dragon
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Russian:
драгу́н
(dragún)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Serbo-Croatian:
дра̀гӯн
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Serbo-Croatian:
dràgūn
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Slovak:
dragún
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Slovene:
dragonec
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Spanish:
dragón
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Swedish:
dragon
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Tagalog:
dragun
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Turkish:
ağır süvari
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Ottoman Turkish:
دراغون
(dragon)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Ukrainian:
драгу́н
(drahún)
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Vietnamese:
long kỵ binh
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Volapük:
dragan
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Volapük:
drägun
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Volapük:
hidrägun
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Volapük:
jidrägun
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Welsh:
dragŵn
— soldier armed with a dragoon musket; cavalier or horse soldier from a regiment formerly armed with such muskets
Finnish:
junkkari
— man with a fierce or unrefined manner
Arabic:
دراجون
— variety of pigeon
Czech:
dragoun
— variety of pigeon
French:
dragon
— variety of pigeon
French:
Dragon
— variety of pigeon
French:
pigeon dragon
— variety of pigeon
French:
pigeon Dragon
— variety of pigeon
French:
pigeon bec anglais
— variety of pigeon
German:
Dragoner
— variety of pigeon
German:
Dragoner-Bagdette
— variety of pigeon
German:
Dragonertaube
— variety of pigeon
German:
Dragoner-Taube
— variety of pigeon
German:
Drachentaube
— variety of pigeon
German:
Drachen-Taube
— variety of pigeon
Polish:
dragon
— variety of pigeon
Tagalog:
dragun
— variety of pigeon
Tamil:
டிரகூன்
(ṭirakūṉ)
— variety of pigeon
Finnish:
antaa dragonnadeille
— to subject (a Huguenot) to the dragonnades
Bulgarian:
прину́дя
(prinúdja)
— to force (someone) into doing something through harassment and intimidation — see also coerce
Bulgarian:
принуждавам
(prinuždavam)
— to force (someone) into doing something through harassment and intimidation — see also coerce
Finnish:
pakottaa
— to force (someone) into doing something through harassment and intimidation — see also coerce
French:
dragonner
— to force (someone) into doing something through harassment and intimidation — see also coerce
Māori:
uruhi
— to force (someone) into doing something through harassment and intimidation — see also coerce
Spanish:
presionar
— to force (someone) into doing something through harassment and intimidation — see also coerce
Finnish:
usuttaa rakuunat
— to cause (someone) to be attacked by dragoons
