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PlainSpell

lansquenet

/ˌlænskəˈnɛt/noun

lansquenet is a noun meaning “Any of a class of German mercenaries of the 15th and 16th centuries, most of whom were pikemen and foot soldiers” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled L-A-N-S-Q-U-E-N-E-T, and it appears about once in every 71 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of lansquenet is lansquenets.

What does lansquenet mean?

noun

  1. 1

    Any of a class of German mercenaries of the 15th and 16th centuries, most of whom were pikemen and foot soldiers.

  2. 2

    A gambling card game in which the dealer is given an initial card and the players another; cards are then turned up until the value (rank) of one of those cards is met.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce lansquenet?

  • UK /ˈlɑːnskəˌnɛt/
  • UK /ˈlanskəˌnɛt/
  • US /ˌlænskəˈnɛt/

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-lansquenet.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of lansquenet

  • lansquenets plural
  • landsknecht
  • lansknecht
  • lanzknecht
  • lansquenette

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is lansquenet?

Lansquenet appears about once in every 71 million words in written English, the 265,644th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Lansquenet in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchlansquenet (German mercenary of the 15th or 16th century)
GermanLandsknecht (German mercenary of the 15th or 16th century), Lansquenet (gambling card game)
Portugueselansquenete, lansquené, lansquenê (German mercenary of the 15th or 16th century)
Spanishlansquenete (German mercenary of the 15th or 16th century)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does lansquenet come from?

Borrowed from French lansquenet, from German Landsknecht, from Lands (“of the land”) + Knecht (“servant”). Doublet of Landsknecht.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).