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Borrowed from Hindustani بدمعاش (badm'āś) / बदमाश (badmāś) and its source, Persian بدمعاش (badma'âš), from بد (bad, bad, evil) + معاش (ma'âš, life, livelihood), ultimately from Arabic عَاشَ (ʕāša, to live). Compare lowlife, which is a similar formation in English.

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Noun edit

badmash (plural badmashes)

  1. (British India, South Asia) A rogue, ruffian or miscreant. [from 19th c.]
    • 1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin, published 2005, page 102:
      ‘However big a badmash one is – if one's happy in consequence, that's some justification.’
    • 2013, Garry Douglas Kilworth, Rogue Officer[1]:
      Once the five had left for the village, the Dutchman had immediately begun working on the badmash who had stood up to the havildar.
    • 2014, Dr. Ulhas R. Gunjal, Home, Again!: A Novel of Identity, Self-Discovery, and Tragedy[2]:
      His wife laughed. “You'll see purdahs when we reach Port Said.” “And a bazaar?” “That's a market!” “Who's a badmash?” “A bad man is called a badmash. I'm not a badmash. Am I?”

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