Meaning

noun a row or line of people (especially soldiers or police) standing abreast of one another

noun relative status

noun the ordinary members of an organization (such as the enlisted soldiers of an army)

originFrom Middle English rank (“strong, proud”), from Old English ranc (“proud, haughty, arrogant, insolent, forward, overbearing, showy, ostentatious, splendid, bold, valiant, noble, brave, strong, full-grown, mature”), from Proto-West Germanic *rank, from Proto-Germanic *rankaz (“straight”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“straight, direct”). Cognate with Dutch rank (“slender, slim”), Low German…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0