- For other uses of GI, see GI
GI or G.I. is a term describing a member of the US armed forces or an item of their equipment. It may be used as an adjective or as a noun. The term is often thought to be an initialism of "Government Issue" but the origin of the term is in fact galvanized iron after the letters "GI" that used to denote equipment such as metal trash cans made from it in U.S. Army inventories and supply records. [1][2] During World War I, US soldiers sardonically referred to incoming German artillery shells as "GI cans". During World War I it was somehow assumed that GI stood for Government Issue and the term was applied to all military equipment and the soldiers themselves (another incorrect interpretation is General Infantry[2]). The term reached even farther use as its usage spread with the American troops during World War II. During World War I, U.S. soldiers were also often known as "Doughboys" because of the dough-coulored uniforms they wore. A comparable nickname for a member of the British armed forces is "Tommy" or--in the Australian and New Zealand Armed forces--"Digger."
