Major general (or major-general, short MG) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparently confusing phenomenon whereby a lieutenant general outranks a major general (although a major outranks a lieutenant, a lieutenant outranks a sergeant-major.) In the Commonwealth and United States, it is a division commander's rank subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the rank of brigadier/brigadier general.