A sepoy is a foreign soldier who serves for pay? true or false

Question

A sepoy is a foreign soldier who serves for pay? true or false

Answer 1

False.  Sepoy is basically the term used in Indian for Private.  A low ranking member of the Army.

Answer 2

Well Sepoy was the English pronunciation of the word "Sipahi"(soldier in Hindi/Urdu/Persian).

The reason why you are getting so confused is because these Sepoys were the Indian soldiers who worked for the Britishers under British commanders maintaining their occupation.

So probably if you wanna use it, the best usage would be, if Canada invades USA, after hiring Swiss soldiers, and American soldiers, then, the Canadian soldiers in Canadian army would be just Soldiers, Swiss soldiers would be Mercenaries,  and the American ones would be Sepoys.

Answer 3

A sepoy (IPA: /ˈsipɔɪ/) (from Persian سپاهی Sipâhi meaning "soldier") was a native of India, a soldier allied to a European power, usually the United Kingdom. Specifically, it was the term used in the British Indian Army, and earlier in the Honourable East India Company, for an infantry private (a cavalry trooper was a Sowar), and is still so used in the modern Indian Army, Pakistan Army and Bangladesh Army. The Sepoys played a prominent role in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 after it was alleged that the new rifles being issued to them used animal fat to grease the casing.