SEPOY  , the usual

English spelling of sipahi, the Persian and Urdu term for a soldier of any kind, cf. spahi . The word sipah, " army," from which sipahi, " soldier," is derived, corresponds to the Zend cpadha, Old Persian 4pada, and has also found a home in the Turkish, Kurdish and Pashto (Pushtu) languages (see Justi, Handbuch der Zendsprache, p . 303, 6), while its derivative is used in all Indian vernaculars, including Tamil and Burmese, to denote a native soldier, in contradistinction to gora, " a fair-complexioned (European) soldier." A sepoy is at the present day strictly a private soldier in the native infantry of the Indian army .