soldat

Soldat is masculine in French. While the word does derive from Italian "soldato" and ultimately from Latin "soldatus" (meaning "paid" or "hired"), the explanation that French retained the gender from Italian is misleading. In French, the masculine gender of "soldat" is better explained by the fact that it is a French noun ending in a consonant ("t"), and most French nouns referring to male persons or professions are masculine by convention. The etymological pathway is correct, but attributing the gender primarily to Italian influence overstates the role of that language in determining French gender assignment.