havildar

English

Alternative forms

• avaldar, havaldar, havildah

Etymology

Borrowed from Hindustani حوالدار (ḥavāldār) / हविलदार (havildār), from Persian حوالدار (havâldâr), from Arabic حَوَالَة (ḥawāla, “charge”) + Persian دار (dâr, “holder”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhavɪldɑː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhævɪldɑɹ/

Noun

havildar (plural havildars)

1. (South Asia) An noncommissioned officer rank in parts of India, later a specific military rank of the British Indian Army and of the modern armies of India and Pakistan, equivalent to sergeant.
   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘At Howli Thana’, Black and White, Folio Society, published 2005, page 388:

     ‘There was a great fight,’ said the Havildar, ‘and of us no man escaped unhurt.’

   • 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 406:

     On being congratulated by the Russian, the Gurkha havildar, or sergeant, whispered anxiously to Younghusband that he should inform the towering Gromchevsky that they were unusually small and that most Gurkhas were even taller than he was.