Quartermaster

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈk(w)ɔɹtɚˌmæstɚ/

Definitions

1. A military official charged with overseeing the provisioning, logistics, and transportation of goods and resources for troops
2. An individual who manages and organizes the supply chain, ensuring that equipment and supplies are available for operational needs
3. An officer responsible for arranging and distributing supplies, equipment, and transportation within a military unit

Etymology: The quarter in "quartermaster" has nothing to do with a fourth part. It comes from the Latin "quartarius," a measure of a quarter of something, and in medieval military use it came to mean a place where soldiers were lodged or assigned their living space. The quartermaster was the officer who went ahead to find and allot those quarters, and the job grew into managing the troops' supplies and accommodation more generally. The word is a compound of "quarter" and "master," and it entered English in Middle English as "quartermayster" and "quartermaistre." It was reinforced by, and partly merged with, Dutch "kwartiermeester," and it has close counterparts in German "Quartiermeister" and French "quartier-maître," all built on the same idea of an officer in charge of quarters.

Synonyms: logistics officer, supply officer