Usage Note
patrouilleur can refer to a person — a soldier or officer on patrol — or to a small naval patrol vessel. The feminine patrouilleuse is rare; patrouilleur is mostly a masculine role-noun. The related verb patrouiller (to patrol) and noun patrouille (patrol) are more commonly encountered in everyday texts.
Examples
"Le patrouilleur surveille les côtes chaque nuit."
Natural Translation
The patrol vessel monitors the coastline every night.

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