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Ageneral officer is anofficer of high rank in thearmies, and in some nations'air andspace forces,marines ornaval infantry.[a]
In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank abovecolonel.[1]
The adjectivegeneral had been affixed to officer designations since the late medieval period to indicate relative superiority or an extended jurisdiction.
| Marshal orCaptain general |
| Army general |
| Corps general |
| Divisional general |
| Brigade general |
| Rank | Transliteration | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| مشير | Mushīr | Counsellor | compareCounsellor of State,State Counsellor etc. compareetymology"mushir" with"shura" |
| فريق أول | Fariq 'awal | First general | equivalent to Commonwealth "full" general |
| فريق | Fariq | General | equivalent tolieutenant general orcorps general |
| لواء | liwāʾ | Ensign | (more loosely "flag officer" or "banner") |
| عميد | ʿamīd | Colonel (not to be confused withaqīd, the equivalent rank to a Commonwealth colonel) | compareetymology with "ʿamood" ("column"); etymologically, translates as "colonel" but equivalent tobrigadier/brigade general |
Other nomenclatures for general officers include the titles and ranks:
In addition to militarily educated generals, there are also generals in medicine and engineering. The rank of the most senior chaplain, (chaplain general), is also usually considered to be a general officer rank.
In the old European system, a general, without prefix or suffix (and sometimes referred to informally as a "full general"), is usually the most senior type of general, abovelieutenant general and directly belowfield marshal as afour-star rank (NATO OF-9).
Usually it is the most senior peacetime rank, with more senior ranks (for example, field marshal, marshal of the air force, fleet admiral) being used only in wartime or as honorary titles.
In some armies, however, the rank ofcaptain general,army general orcolonel general occupied or occupies this position. Depending on circumstances and the army in question, these ranks may be considered to be equivalent to a "full" general or to a field marshalfive-star rank (NATO OF-10).
The rank of general came about as a "captain-general", the captain of an army in general (i.e., the whole army). The rank of captain-general began appearing around the time of the organisation of professional armies in the 17th century. In most countries "captain-general" contracted to just "general".
The following articles deal with the rank of general, or its equivalent, as it is or was employed in the militaries of those countries:
![Général (Arabic: عميد, romanized: Amid) (Algerian People's National Army)[2]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fwikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3a13.PNA-BG.svg)
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Some countries (such as the United States) use the general officer ranks for both thearmy and theair force, as well as theirmarine corps; other states only use the general officer ranks for the army, while in the air force they useair officers as the equivalent of general officers. They use the air force rank ofair chief marshal as the equivalent of the specific army rank of general. This latter group includes the BritishRoyal Air Force and many current and former Commonwealth air forces—e.g.Royal Australian Air Force,Indian Air Force,Royal New Zealand Air Force,Nigerian Air Force,Pakistan Air Force, etc.
In mostnavies,flag officers are the equivalent of general officers, and the naval rank ofadmiral is equivalent to the specific army rank of general. A noteworthy historical exception was theCromwellian naval rank "general at sea". In recent years in the American service there is a tendency to useflag officer andflag rank to refer to generals and admirals of the services collectively.
| By star ranks | |
|---|---|
| By titles |
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