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List of English words of Romani origin

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These are words in the English language which potentially come from Romani.

  • chav (wikt:chav) – an anti-social youth (from chavi "child")[1][2]
  • cosh (wikt:cosh) – a weapon, truncheon, baton (from košter "stick")
  • cove (wikt:cove) – British-English colloquial term meaning a person or chap (from kova "that person")
  • dick (wikt:dick) – detective (potentially from dik "look", "see" and by extension "watch")[3]
  • gadjo (masc) or gadji (fem) – a non-Romani
  • nark (wikt:nark) – a police informer (from nāk "nose")
  • pal (wikt:pal) – friend (from phral "brother")
  • posh (wikt:posh) – fancy, upper-class (possibly from a Romani term for money)
  • Romanipen – the spirit of being Romani, "Romani-ness"
  • shiv (wikt:shiv) – an improvised knife or similar weapon (from chivomengro "knife")[4]
  • wonga (wikt:wonga) – Cockney slang for money (from angar "coal")[5]
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References

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