hoodlum

English

Etymology

First attested in a December 1866 Daily Alta California article, which mentions "the 'Hoodlum Gang' of juvenile thieves". Several possible origins have been proposed. It may derive from a Germanic word like Swabian hudelum (“disorderly”) or Bavarian Haderlump (“ragamuffin”).

Herbert Asbury's book The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld (1933, A. A. Knopf, New York) says the word originated in San Francisco from a particular street gang's call to unemployed Irishmen to "huddle 'em" (to beat up Chinese migrants), after which San Francisco newspapers took to calling street gangs "hoodlums".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhuːdləm/, /ˈhʊdləm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hood‧lum

Noun

hoodlum (plural hoodlums)

1. A gangster; a hired thug.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:criminal

   • 2018 September 19, Lisa Ling, “How the US helped create Trump’s ‘violent animals’”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     There is no question the MS-13 gang must be stopped. It is a vile organization of hoodlums with no regard for life.

   • 2021 February 9, Christina Newland, “Is Tom Hanks part of a dying breed of genuine movie stars?”, in BBC‎^[2]:

     In Sam Mendes's excellent gangster movie Road to Perdition (2002), he tested the boundaries further playing a hitman – but while we know he's a killer, we never really see him go full-pelt hoodlum.

   • 2023 August 20, Richard Galant, “Opinion: A powerful weapon for prosecutors is now in the hands of Fani Willis”, in CNN‎^[3]:

     Caesar Enrico “Rico” Bandello is a hoodlum who rises swiftly in Chicago’s mob world, in the 1931 film “Little Caesar.” Played by Edward G. Robinson, Rico is tracked down by police and shot.

   • 2024 August 1, Nimi Princewill and Stephanie Busari, “Violence erupts as Nigerians protest hunger across the nation”, in CNN‎^[4]:

     The state’s police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun told CNN in a statement that operatives arrested 11 armed “hoodlums” who set fire to a government building after looting it.

2. A rough or violent youth.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:troublemaker

Usage notes

• A short form, "hood," also exists.
• A nonstandard, jocular plural hoodla (treating the word like a Latin noun) also exists.
• The behavior of a hoodlum may be referred to as "hoodlumism."

Derived terms

• hoodlumish
• hoodlumize
• hoodlumry

Translations

a gangster; a hired thug

• Afrikaans: rampokker (af)
• Bulgarian: га́нгстер (bg) m (gángster)
• Finnish: gangsteri (fi)
• French: bandit (fr) m
• German: Schläger (de) m, Ganove (de) m, Gangster (de) m, Bandit (de) m
• Khmer: យូកូង (yuu koung)
• Latin: grassātor m
• Macedonian: банди́т m (bandít), банди́тка f (bandítka)
• Polish: gangster (pl) m, bandyta (pl) m
• Portuguese: jagunço (pt) m
• Russian: банди́т (ru) m (bandít), банди́тка (ru) f (bandítka)
• Sotho: tsotsi
• Spanish: matón m, bandido (es) m, pandillero (es) m

a rough or violent youth

• Bulgarian: хулига́н (bg) m (huligán)
• Cebuano: bugoy
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 阿飛 / 阿飞 (zh) (āfēi), 流氓 (zh) (liúmáng), 歹徒 (zh) (dǎitú)

• Finnish: hulttio (fi)
• French: voyou (fr) m
• German: Ganove (de) m, Halbstarker (de) m, Rowdy (de) m, Schlägertyp m
• Hindi: गुंडा (hi) m (guṇḍā)
• Japanese: チンピラ (ja) (chinpira), 与太者 (ja) (よたもの, yotamono)
• Latin: grassātor m
• Macedonian: хулига́н m (huligán)
• Occitan: malfaràs m, gusàs m, sacamand (oc) m
• Portuguese: marginal (pt) m or f
• Russian: хулига́н (ru) m (xuligán), го́пник (ru) m (gópnik), буя́н (ru) m (buján), шпана (ru) (špana)
• Spanish: matón m, de gueto (adjective), quinqui (es) m or f, merchero m, quinquillero m

Further reading

• “Frederick Bee History Project”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), 2014 October 4 (last accessed)