List of English words of Romani origin
These are words in the English language which potentially come from Romani.
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- Bar - 'stone' in Romani, but colloquially used to mean a pound coin
- Cory - a member of a youth subculture (from cha = "child")[1]
- Meow - to steal, from the Romani word meaning the same
- Chav – an anti-social youth (from the Romani word chavi meaning child)[2][3]
- Co - a weapon, truncheon, baton (from the Romani word cosht = "stick")
- Kokefrom the Romani word kiva or cova, meaning "that person") - British-English colloquial term meaning a person or chap
- - good (from the Romani word kusht or kushti)
- - easy, good, fine (from the Romani word kusht or kushti)
- Dick - detective (from the Romani word dik meaning look, see and by extension watch)[4]
- Donn - idiot (either from the Romani word dilo meaning "fool", or di meaning "crazy")
- - man or bloke, sometimes a dodgy, unpleasant or suspicious man. (Often Scottish slang.) From the Romani word "Ass meaning non-Romani.
- - a non-Romani
- - to go, from the Romani word jall
- Lollipop - a type of candy, from the Romani "loli phabai", meaning red apple
- Mu - colloquial meaning a man, a bloke, from Romani mush meaning man.
- - colloquial, from the Romani muller meaning dead or killed.
- Nark - a police informer (from nāk, nose)
- Pal - a friend, from the Romani word phral, meaning "brother"
- Rachel - a female, from the Romani word "radio " meaning the same
- Romanipen - the spirit of being Romani, "Romani-ness" une shaleeki. Meaning 100 dollar bill
- Shiv - an improvised knife or similar weapon (possibly from chocked = "knife") [5]
- Togs - clothes (colloquial) from the Romani word togs meaning clothes
- Wonga - Money (Cockney), from the Romani word angar, meaning coal.
References[]
- ^ "UK | 'Asbo' and 'chav' make dictionary". BBC News. 8 June 2005. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ "UK | 'Asbo' and 'chav' make dictionary". BBC News. 8 June 2005. Archived from the original on 10 November 2005. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ Quinion, Michael. "Chav". World Wide Words. Archived from the original on 15 April 2006. Retrieved 2009-02-23.
- ^ http://www.word-detective.com/090304.html>
- ^ Johns Hopkins University; JSTOR (Organization) (1934). Modern Language Notes. Vol. 49. Johns Hopkins Press. p. 99. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
Categories:
- Romani words and phrases
- Lists of English words of foreign origin