From Middle English ensigne, from Old French enseigne, from Latin īnsignia, nominative plural of īnsigne, meaning marked, distinguished.

• IPA: /ˈɛn.sɪn/, IPA: /ˈɛn.sən/, [ˈɛn.sn̩] IPA: /ˈɛn.saɪn/

ensign (plural ensigns)

1. A badge of office, rank, or power.
2. The lowest grade of commissioned officer in the United States Navy, junior to a lieutenant junior grade.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:

     The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.

3. A flag or banner carried by military units; a standard or color/colour.

   Synonyms: ancient

   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene iv]:

     Hang up your ensigns, let your drums be still,

4. (nautical) The principal flag or banner flown by a ship (usually at the stern) to indicate nationality.
5. Any prominent flag or banner.
   • 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:

     Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced.

6. (historical) A junior commissioned officer in the 18th and 19th centuries whose duty was to carry the unit's ensign.

• See Thesaurus:badge
• coronet (cavalry equivalent of the infantry ensign)
• second lieutenant (OF-1), first NATO commissioned officer grade above OF-0 trainee officer

• French: aspirant
• German: Fähnrich
• Italian: guardiamarina, alfiere, cadetto
• Portuguese: alferes
• Russian: пра́порщик
• Spanish: alférez

• French: pavillon
• German: Fahne
• Italian: insegna, vessillo, baluardo, stendardo
• Portuguese: insígnia
• Russian: зна́мя
• Spanish: enseña, pabellón

ensign (ensigns, present participle ensigning; simple past and past participle ensigned)

1. (obsolete) To designate as by an ensign.
2. To distinguish by a mark or ornament.
3. (heraldry) To distinguish by an ornament, especially by a crown.

   Any charge which has a crown immediately above or upon it, is said to be ensigned.

1. Surname.
2. A hamlet in Vulcan County, Alberta.
3. A minor city in Gray County, Kansas, named after founder G. L. Ensign.
4. A twp in Delta County, Michigan.
5. (Mormonism) The official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints