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For the advertising icon, see Pillsbury Doughboy. For the band, see Doughboys (band). For the fictional movie character, see Darin "Doughboy" Baker. For the regional reference to a popular snack, see Fried dough.

Wartime era portrait of a typical American doughboy, circa: 1918.

Doughboy is an outdated slang term for an American infantryman, best known from its use in World War I, although it potentially dates back to the Mexican-American War of 1846-48.

An American doughboy (right) receives an award from King George V.

The origin of the term is unclear. The most commonly held explanation is that it came into use in the Civil War in reference to the dumpling-shaped buttons on the Union soldiers' jackets. [1] Others claim that it goes back to the Mexican-American War or originated from an early form of the doughnut, called the doughboy. Another explanation stems from the time of the Punitive Expedition against Pancho Villa in 1916, in which the infantry were constantly covered with dust from marching through the dry terrain of northern Mexico, giving them the appearance of unbaked dough. Other explanations point to the use of pipe clay, which looks like dough, to clean infantrymen’s white belts; another is that it is a corruption of "adobe boy" from the adobe bricks used to house infantrymen in the pre-Civil War Southwest; and yet another that it refers to the "soft" condition of the young soldiers, applied by British and French forces in World War I who had already fought nearly four years. One derisive story is that American soldiers were called doughboys because they were "kneaded" in 1914 but didn't rise until 1917.

None of these theories are definite.

"Doughboy" became most popular during World War I, since the American Expeditionary Force was led by General John J. Pershing, who had been a commander of the Mexican expedition. The helmet worn by Americans in combat was called the Doughboy helmet, even though it was the Brodie helmet design used by the British army. At first, the term applied to only the infantry, but soon extended to the entire American contingent. The term fell into disuse and was replaced by the appellation G.I. in World War II. By then, doughboy had taken on a corny, old-fashioned tone for many GI's, as in the 1942 song Johnny Doughboy found a Rose in Ireland. It dropped out of popular use, and is now of historic interest only.

• Spirit of the American Doughboy is a World War I memorial statue.
• Doughboy is a word for dumpling.
• A doughboy is also a deep-fried dough treat, generally in the shape of a thick pancake but often smaller and ball-shaped like a fritter.

• Digger

• Origin of term Doughboy.