sarpech

English

Etymology

From Urdu سرپیچ/Hindi सरपेच (sarpec), from Persian سرپیچ (sarpeč, “socket”).

Noun

sarpech (plural sarpeches)

1. An ornament placed in front of the turban, worn by significant Hindu, Sikh and Muslim princes.

   Synonym: jigha

   • 1992, The Quarterly Journal of the Mythic Society, volumes 83–84, page 212:

     The Marathas made reciprocal presents of a ‘horse and sarpech to all leading members of the English settlement’.

   • 1996, M. L. Ahluwalia, Land Marks in Sikh History: A Fully Researched and Documented History: 1699–1947, New Delhi: Ashoka International Publishers, page 58:

     They had brought two pairs of shawls and three sarpeches for Ranjit Singh and one pair of shawls for Tara Singh Gheba.

   • 2000, Country Life, volume 194, page 148:

     It was a pear-shaped, pinkish-red stone drilled through with a gold pin and with a gold ring at the top (Fig 1). It was Mughal, and from the notes it was evident that it was a sarpech, or turban ornament.

Alternative forms

• sarpesh, serpech, serpeych, serpesh, sirpeach, surpaish

Anagrams

• Schaper, eparchs, parches