"badmash" meaning in All languages combined

See badmash on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /bʌdˈmɑːʃ/ [UK] Forms: badmashes [plural], badmaash [alternative], budmash [alternative]
Rhymes: -ɑːʃ 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. Etymology templates: {{root|en|ar|ع ي ش}}, {{bor+|en|inc-hnd}} Borrowed from Hindustani, {{der|en|fa|بدمعاش|tr=badma'âš}} Persian بدمعاش (badma'âš), {{der|en|ar|عَاشَ||to live}} Arabic عَاشَ (ʕāša, “to live”) Head templates: {{en-noun}} badmash (plural badmashes)
  1. (British Pakistani, South Asia, British India, India, Pakistan) A rogue, ruffian or miscreant. Tags: British, India, Pakistan, South-Asia

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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  "etymology_templates": [
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        "2": "ar",
        "3": "ع ي ش"
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      "args": {
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      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
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        "2": "ar",
        "3": "عَاشَ",
        "4": "",
        "5": "to live"
      },
      "expansion": "Arabic عَاشَ (ʕāša, “to live”)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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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    {
      "form": "budmash",
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          "date": "from 19th c.",
          "references": []
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        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Indian English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
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        {
          "kind": "other",
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          "source": "w"
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          "ref": "1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin, published 2005, page 102:",
          "text": "‘However big a badmash one is – if one's happy in consequence, that's some justification.’",
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        },
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              90,
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          ],
          "ref": "2013, Garry Douglas Kilworth, Rogue Officer:",
          "text": "Once the five had left for the village, the Dutchman had immediately begun working on the badmash who had stood up to the havildar.",
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              141,
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            [
              160,
              167
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2014, Dr. Ulhas R. Gunjal, Home, Again!: A Novel of Identity, Self-Discovery, and Tragedy:",
          "text": "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?”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A rogue, ruffian or miscreant."
      ],
      "id": "en-badmash-en-noun-OtMw-hf7",
      "links": [
        [
          "rogue",
          "rogue"
        ],
        [
          "ruffian",
          "ruffian"
        ],
        [
          "miscreant",
          "miscreant"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "British Pakistani",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(British Pakistani, South Asia, British India, India, Pakistan) A rogue, ruffian or miscreant."
      ],
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        "South-Asia"
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  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/bʌdˈmɑːʃ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑːʃ"
    }
  ],
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        "3": "ع ي ش"
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      },
      "expansion": "Arabic عَاشَ (ʕāša, “to live”)",
      "name": "der"
    }
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      "form": "budmash",
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        "alternative"
      ]
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        "English nouns",
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        "English terms derived from Arabic",
        "English terms derived from Hindustani languages",
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        "English terms derived from the Arabic root ع ي ش",
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        "Indian English",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Pakistani English",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "Rhymes:English/ɑːʃ",
        "Rhymes:English/ɑːʃ/2 syllables",
        "South Asian English",
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        },
        {
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            [
              90,
              97
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2013, Garry Douglas Kilworth, Rogue Officer:",
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              148
            ],
            [
              160,
              167
            ]
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          "ref": "2014, Dr. Ulhas R. Gunjal, Home, Again!: A Novel of Identity, Self-Discovery, and Tragedy:",
          "text": "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?”",
          "type": "quotation"
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A rogue, ruffian or miscreant."
      ],
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        [
          "rogue",
          "rogue"
        ],
        [
          "ruffian",
          "ruffian"
        ],
        [
          "miscreant",
          "miscreant"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "British Pakistani",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(British Pakistani, South Asia, British India, India, Pakistan) A rogue, ruffian or miscreant."
      ],
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        "British",
        "India",
        "Pakistan",
        "South-Asia"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/bʌdˈmɑːʃ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑːʃ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "badmash"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.