Word.ws English Dictionary

G.I. Joe

G.I. Joe noun: an American soldier.

Noun

G.I. Joe (plural G.I. Joes)

  1. (slang) An American soldier.
    • Most of the Dutch locals were glad to see G.I. Joe coming to town in 1944.
    • Paul has been servicing Larry and presumably other U.S. military officers at Clark Airfield, and handing his savings over to his mother to help support the family. Now that "GI Joe's" tour of duty is coming to a close, Paul needs to find a new job.1990 August 18, Karin Aguilar-San Juan, “The Boston Lesbian and Gay Film Festival Continues”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 6, page 9
  2. (broadly) Any American servicemember.
  3. A fictional character based on an archetype of an American soldier fighting for righteous causes (e.g., freedom, liberty, rule of law), embodied in various comic books, toys, TV shows, and movies.
    • A small boy was in the yard playing with a weather-beaten G.I. Joe doll.

Forms of G.I. Joe

pluralG.I. Joes

Origin of G.I. Joe

From G.I. (“government issue”) (explained at Wikipedia) and Joe as it functions in such terms as regular Joe, average Joe, Joe Average, and Joe Public.

Questions about G.I. Joe

What does G.I. Joe mean?
G.I. Joe means an American soldier.
What part of speech is G.I. Joe?
G.I. Joe is a noun.
What is the plural of G.I. Joe?
The plural of G.I. Joe is G.I. Joes.

Words near G.I. Joe in the dictionary

  1. G.E.D.s
  2. G.I.
  3. G.I. Generation
  4. G.I. Jane
  5. G.I. Janes
  6. G.I. Joe
  7. G.I. Joes
  8. G.I. parties
  9. G.I. party
  10. G.M.A.T.
  11. G.O.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: G.I. Joe (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-G.I. Joe.ogg.

Cite this entry: “G.I. Joe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/g.i._joe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.