- an officer in the British army below the rank of captain, especially a second lieutenant（英国陆军）中尉, 少尉（尤指少尉）。
1
- of lower status下级的, 低级的：
the private tutor was a recognized subaltern part of the bourgeois family.
家庭教师属于公认的下层资产阶级家庭。
2
- Logic, dated (of a proposition) implied by another proposition (e.g. as a particular affirmative is by a universal one), but not implying it in return【逻】〈旧〉（命题）特称的。
词源
late 16th cent. (as an adjective)： from late Latin subalternus, from Latin sub- 'next below' + alternus 'every other'.