jemadar

English

A cigarette card depicting Jemadar Mir Dast (1874–1950) of the Indian Army, who received the Victoria Cross and the Indian Order of Merit for action during World War I

Alternative forms

• jamadar, jemautdar, jemidar, jemutdar, jummahdar

Etymology

Borrowed from Urdu جمعدار (jamadār), from Persian جمعدار (jam'-dār), from Arabic جَمْع (jamʕ, “gathering”) + Persian ـدار (-dār, “bearer”).

Noun

jemadar (plural jemadars)

1. A former rank in the British Indian Army, the lowest rank for a viceroy's commissioned officer.
   • 1898 January, Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, Philadelphia, page 121:

     Mr. Neilson also adds that a jemidar told him that when he was a lad he remembered going with others to see a wolf-child which had been netted.

Anagrams

• mejadra