Unnumbered source etymology · variant 1/2
Original entry ↗To commit acts of thuggery, to live the life of a thug, to menace, to commit crime. · (often with out) To appear as a thug; to dress and act in a manner reminiscent of a thug.
Borrowed from Hindustani ठग (ṭhag) / ٹھگ (ṭhag, “swindler, fraud, cheat”), further derived from Prakrit 𑀞𑀕 (ṭhaga), of uncertain origin. See there for more. Thuggee was a network of gangs in India from the 17th century to the 19th century who robbed and murdered travellers, often by strangling. During British Imperial rule of India, many Indian words passed into common English, and by 1810 thug referred to a member of these Indian gangs. The sense was adopted more generally as "ruffian, cutthroat, and cruel robber" by 1839. Perhaps related to English thatch, deck.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Root classification mention*(s)teg- (cover)ine-pro
- Derivation mention𑀞𑀕pra
- Cognate mentionthatchen
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "root",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*(s)teg- (cover)"
},
"expansion": ""
},
{
"name": "dercat",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "iir-pro",
"3": "ine-pro"
},
"expansion": ""
},
{
"name": "bor+",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "inc-hnd",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "Borrowed from Hindustani"
},
{
"name": "yesno",
"args": {
"1": "1",
"2": "d",
"3": "D"
},
"expansion": "d"
},
{
"name": "glossary",
"args": {
"1": "derived terms",
"2": "derived"
},
"expansion": "derived"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "pra",
"3": "𑀞𑀕",
"4": "",
"5": "",
"lit": "",
"pos": "",
"tr": "",
"ts": "",
"id": "",
"sc": "",
"g": "",
"g2": "",
"g3": "",
"nocat": "",
"sort": ""
},
"expansion": "Prakrit 𑀞𑀕 (ṭhaga)"
},
{
"name": "der+",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "pra",
"3": "𑀞𑀕",
"nocap": "1"
},
"expansion": "derived from Prakrit 𑀞𑀕 (ṭhaga)"
},
{
"name": "unc",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"nocap": "1"
},
"expansion": "uncertain"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "thatch"
},
"expansion": "English thatch"
}
],
"links": [
[
"ठग",
"ठग#Hindi"
],
[
"ٹھگ",
"ٹھگ#Urdu"
],
[
"𑀞𑀕",
"𑀞𑀕#Prakrit"
],
[
"Thuggee",
"thuggee"
],
[
"thatch",
"thatch#English"
],
[
"deck",
"deck#English"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"To commit acts of thuggery, to live the life of a thug, to menace, to commit crime.",
"(often with out) To appear as a thug; to dress and act in a manner reminiscent of a thug."
],
"tags": [
"informal",
"transitive"
],
"recordId": "831673caa029e6b5138e4fc03ea17f15d6361bf1879ed977bcc7cc952c426c63",
"rawRecordSha256": "48126be8a8f788ba035392d878179250cf49fef037bfdebae5b3873d74dec4ab",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 268811
}
],
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}