hoplite means A heavily-armed infantry soldier of Ancient Greece, wielding a one-handed spear and an aspis. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 84 out of 100.
hoplite is pronounced /ˈhɒplaɪt/.
Why “hoplite” is a great word
HOPLITE — [Noun] A heavily armed infantry soldier of ancient Greece, typically wielding a spear and a large round shield (aspis) and fighting in a phalanx formation. From Ancient Greek ὁπλίτης (hoplítēs, "heavily armed foot-soldier"), from ὅπλον (hóplon, "tool, implement, arms, armor"). First attested in English in 1727. Unlike a "peltast," a lightly armed skirmisher reliant on javelins and mobility, or a "legionary," a professional soldier of a later, imperial system, the hoplite was a citizen-farmer defined by his weight and his neighbors. It is the deafening crash of shield rim against shield rim; the forest of iron-tipped ash-wood spears, leveled as one; the suffocating press of men in the dust, each relying utterly on the man to his right. His strength was an exquisite fragility, for the cohesion of the line was the only thing standing between polis and oblivion.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ὁπλίτης (hoplítēs, “heavily armed foot-soldier”), from ὅπλον (hóplon, “arms, armor, weapon”) (from which English hopl-). Compare Latin hoplomachus (“gladiator”).
noun
- A heavily-armed infantry soldier of Ancient Greece, wielding a one-handed spear and an aspis.“[…] it was in the line of "hoplites" that the mass of citizen-soldiers were to be found.”