gardes

Gardes is the plural form of the French noun garde, meaning guard, watch, or protection. In English-language usage, gardes often appears in translated or historical contexts as the designation of specific guard corps or ceremonial guard units, rather than as a generic plural for everyday guards.

Historically, guard units were formed to protect monarchs, heads of state, royal palaces, and important institutions. Notable examples include the Garde du Corps (the king’s or sovereign’s personal bodyguards), the Garde impériale (Napoleon Bonaparte’s Imperial Guard), and the Garde suisse (the Swiss Guard responsible for the papal residence). In such cases, garde or gardes is part of a regimental title rather than a simple plural noun, reflecting ceremonial or elite status.

In modern usage, garde remains a common French term for various guarding or protective functions, such as la garde (the guard) or les gardes d'honneur (honor guards). The plural gardes may designate multiple guard formations within an organization or serve as a collective reference to guards in a given context. In English prose, gardes is typically used only in translations of French names or in historical descriptions; everyday references would use guards.

Beyond military contexts, the term persists in cultural and institutional names in French-speaking regions and in historical writing about European armed forces. The concept encompassed by garde—protection, custody, and ceremonial duty—continues to appear in related terms across languages, even as English largely favors the simpler term guards.