bashi-bazouk

See also: bashibazouk

English

Alternative forms

• bashibazouk

Etymology

From Turkish başıbozuk, from Ottoman Turkish باشی بوزوق (“an irregular soldier, literally 'broken-head'”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bæʃɪbəˈzuːk/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

bashi-bazouk (plural bashi-bazouks)

1. An irregular soldier of the Ottoman army, reputed to be undisciplined and brutal.
   • 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 336:

     In May 1876 the crisis deepened when Turkish irregular troops, known as bashi-bazouks, put twelve thousand Bulgarian Christians to the sword in a frenzy of blood-letting.

Derived terms

• bashi-bazoukery

Translations

irregular soldier of the Ottoman army

• Armenian: բաշիբոզուկ (hy) (bašibozuk)
• Polish: baszybuzuk (pl) m