dragoon, in late 16th-century Europe, a mounted soldier who fought as a light cavalryman on attack and as a dismounted infantryman on defense. The terms derived from his weapon, a species of carbine or short musket called the dragoon. Dragoons were organized not in squadrons but in companies, and their officers and noncommissioned officers bore infantry titles. From the early wars of Frederick II the Great of Prussia in the 18th century, dragoon has referred to medium cavalry. The light cavalry of the British army in the 18th and early 19th centuries was for the most part called light dragoon. In the 20th century, dragoon regiments were converted to armoured formations; the French army also reorganized some dragoon regiments as motorized infantry (dragons portés).