What is the lowest army rank of a US soldier?

There are 13 enlisted Army ranks: Private, Private Second Class, Private First Class, Specialist, Corporal, Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, Sergeant First Class, Master Sergeant, First Sergeant, Sergeant Major, Command Sergeant Major, and Sergeant Major of the Army.

Private (PVT), the lowest Army rank, is normally only held by new recruits while at Basic Combat Training (BCT), but the rank is occasionally assigned to soldiers after a disciplinary action has been taken. The Army Private (E-1) wears no uniform insignia.

In modern military writing, "private" is abridged to "Pte" in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth of Nations countries and to "Pvt" in the United States.

The term derives from the medieval term "private soldiers" (a term still used in the United Kingdom), denoting soldiers who were either hired, conscripted, or feudalized into service by a nobleman forming an army. The usage of "private" dates from the 18th century.