Major (rank)

This article is about the military rank. For other uses, see Major (rank) (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with mayor.

Major is a military rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces. When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicators, the rank is just senior to that of an army captain and right below the rank of lieutenant colonel. It is considered the most junior of the field officer ranks.

Majors are typically assigned as specialized executive or operations officers for battalion-sized units of 300 to 1,200 soldiers. In some militaries, notably France and Ireland, the rank of major is referred to as commandant, while in others it is known as captain-major. It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures, such as the Pennsylvania State Police, New York State Police, New Jersey State Police and several others. As a police rank, Major roughly corresponds to the UK rank of Superintendent.

When used in hyphenated or combined fashion, the term can also imply seniority at other levels of rank, including general-major or major general, denoting a mid-level general officer, and sergeant major, denoting the most senior NCO of a military unit. The term Major can also be used with a hyphen to denote the leader of a military band such as in pipe-major or drum-major.

Historically, the rank designation develops in English in the 1640s, taken from French majeur, in turn a shortening of sergent-majeur, which at the time designated a higher rank than at present.

Links to major ranks by country

A United States Marine Corps officer being promoted from Captain to Major

Sorted by name of country:

• Major (Canada)
• Major (Czech Republic)
• Maggiore (Italy)
• Majuri (Finland)
• Major (Germany)
• Tagmatarchis (Greece)
• Major (India)
• Majoras (Lithuania)
• Mejar (Malaysia)
• Majoor (the Netherlands)
• Major (Poland)
• Major (Sri Lanka)
• Major (Sweden)
• Major (United Kingdom)
• Major (United States)
• Binbaşı (Turkey)

Air Force major insignia

• 
  Argentina
• 
  Brazil
• 
  Croatia
• 
  Denmark
• 
  Georgia
• 
  Indonesia
• 
  Iran
• 
  Israel
• 
  Italy
• 
  Mexico
• 
  Netherlands
• 
  Poland
• 
  Portugal
• 
  United States

Army major insignia

• 
  Australia
• 
  Bangladesh
• 
  Belgium
• 
  Brazil
• 
  Canada
• 
  Colombia
• 
  Croatia
• 
  Czech republic
• 
  Dominican Republic
• 
  Egypt
• 
  Estonia
• 
  Georgia
• 
  Germany
• 
  Greece
• 
  Hungary
• 
  Iceland
• 
  India
• 
  Indonesia
• 
  Israel
• 
  Italy
• 
  Iran
• 
  Malaysia
• 
  Macedonia
• 
  Netherlands
• Pakistan
  Pakistan
• 
  Poland
• 
  Portugal
• 
  Romania
• 
  Russia
• Sri Lanka
  Sri Lanka
• 
  Taiwan
• 
  United States
• 
  United States (September 1959 to October 2014)

Naval infantry major insignia

• 
  Israel
• 
  United States

Links to ranks equivalent to major by country

Sorted by name of country

• Jagran (جګړن) (Afghanistan)
• China
  • 少校 (Shao xiao) (PR China)
  • 少校 (Shaoxiao) (Republic of China/Taiwan)
• Bojnik (Croatia)
• Ra'Ed (رائد) (Egypt and most Arab League member countries)
• Commandant (France)
• Germany:
  • Sturmbannführer (Schutzstaffel and paramilitary organisations of Nazi Germany)
• Tagmatarchis (Ταγματάρχης) (Greece & Cyprus)
• Őrnagy (Hungary)
• Mayor (Indonesia)
• Sargord (سرگرد) (Iran)
• Commandant (Ireland)
• Rav seren (רב סרן) (Israel)

• 少佐 (Shousa) (Japan)
• Mejar (Malaysia)
• w:ko:소좌 (North Korea)

• Magat (Philippines)
• Major (Serbia)
• 소령 (South Korea)
• Comandante (Spain)
• Binbaşı (Turkey)
• Thiếu Tá (Vietnam)

• 
  Croatia (Bojnik)
• 
  Rav seren - Army (Israel)
• 
  Rav seren - Air Force (Israel)
• 
  Rav seren - Navy (Israel)

See also

• Comparative military ranks