kukri

English

A kukri and its scabbard or sheath

Alternative forms

• khukuri, kukuri

Etymology

From Nepali खुकुरी (khukurī).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkʊkɹi/

Noun

kukri (plural kukris)

1. A curved Nepalese knife used especially by Gurkha fighters; many variants exist, but all share recurve as a common theme.

   Synonym: Gurkha knife

   • 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 171:

     In the later part of the Second World War it was customary in the French army to vaunt the ferocity of ‘their’ Algerian Tirailleurs against the Germans, much as the British took pride in the deeds performed by the Gurkhas with their terrible kukris.

   • 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 356:

     Soon, however, the bayonets of the 72nd Highlanders and the kukris of the 2nd Gurkhas began to tell.

Translations

knife

• Esperanto: kukrio
• Japanese: ククリ (kukuri)
• Nepali: खुकुरी (ne) (khukurī)