From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcorporalcor‧po‧ral /ˈkɔːpərəl $ ˈkɔːr-/ noun [countable] PMa low rank in the army, air force etc
Examples from the Corpus
corporal• This was World War 1, and he was a corporal or a sergeant.• a corporal in the 9th Virginia Regiment• Sergeants and corporals outnumber private soldiers.• Although, if you take a sergeant-major or some corporals even - it's the nature of the man.• Smith and Petrossian, the corporals, were checking kit, pushing among the reluctant men.• The corporal called out our registration number.• There follow three corporals, and two drummers, Kelley and Nicholson.• There were six or seven Met Waafs, including a sergeant and two corporals, and the rest were LACWs like me.Origin corporal (1500-1600) French caporal, from Old Italian caporale, from capo “head” 