Link Centre Dictionary

echelon

ec·he·lon

UK/ˈɛʃ.ə.lɒn/ US/ˈeɪ-/ uncommon

noun

1.

a body of troops arranged in a line

2.

a diffraction grating consisting of a pile of plates of equal thickness arranged stepwise with a constant offset

Origin

Borrowed from French échelon (“rung; echelon”), from échelle (“ladder”) + -on (diminutive suffix). Échelle is derived from Latin scāla (“ladder”), from scandō (“to ascend, climb”), from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to jump”).

Phrases

  • echelon form
  • echelon lens
  • echelon parking
  • en echelon
  • rear echelon

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.