English woman's indicator of rank? (9)
I believe the answer is:
epaulette
'indicator of rank?' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'english woman's' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'english' could be 'e' (abbreviation as in OED) and 'e' is found within the answer.
'woman' could be 'paulette' and 'paulette' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for epaulette that I've seen before include "Flashing of the shoulder" , "Military decoration" , "rank stars here?" , "Military shoulderpiece" , "piece of fancy material" .)