thug
Pronunciation: /θʌɡ/
The English word “thug” has 10 meanings listed here.
noun
- A person who is a member of a gang or criminal organization.
- A violent, aggressive, or truculent person.
- A criminal that extorts people.
- A person who use intimidation to coerce others.
- One of a band of assassins formerly active in northern India who worshipped Kali and sacrificed their victims to her.
- One who, usually as a result of social disadvantage, has turned to committing crimes (e.g. selling drugs, robbery, assault, etc.) to make a living; a gangsta.
- An overvigorous plant that spreads and dominates the flowerbed.
- A wooden bat used in the game of miniten, fitting around the player's hand.
verb
Etymology
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…
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.