badmash

English

Alternative forms

• budmash

Etymology

Borrowed from Urdu بدمعاش‎ (badmāš), Hindi बदमाश (badmāś), and its source, Persian بدمعاش‎ (badma'âš), from بد‎ (bad, “bad, evil”) + معاش‎ (ma'âš, “life, livelihood”), ultimately from Arabic عَاشَ‎ (ʿāša, “to live”). Compare lowlife, which is a similar formation in English.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bʌdˈmɑːʃ/

Noun

badmash (plural badmashes)

1. (South Asia) A rogue, ruffian or miscreant. [from 19th c.]
   • 1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin 2005, p. 102:

     ‘However big a badmash one is – if one's happy in consequence, that's some justification.’

   • 2013, Garry Douglas Kilworth, Rogue Officer:

     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:

     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?”

Anagrams

• madhabs