badmash

English

Alternative forms

• badmaash, budmash

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bʌdˈmɑːʃ/
• Rhymes: -ɑːʃ

Noun

badmash (plural badmashes)

1. (British Pakistani, South Asia, British India) 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?”

Anagrams

• madhabs