baksheesh

or bak·shish, bak·shis

[bak-sheesh, bak-sheesh](in the Near and Middle East)

noun

a tip, present, or gratuity.

verb (used with or without object)

to give a tip.

Origin of baksheesh

First recorded in 1615–25, baksheesh is from the Persian word bakhshish gift

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for bakshish

Historical Examples of bakshish

Bakshish they call it here too; that word accompanies you round the world!
Round the Wonderful World
G. E. Mitton
"Your nobility will remember the bakshish," said one of them to Ahmed as they started.
Barclay of the Guides
Herbert Strang
The Arabs who live in the mud hovels you see, raise fine vegetables here; and, like all Arabs, they will expect a bakshish.
Asiatic Breezes
Oliver Optic
Still more men and boys were gazing up at the ship and calling loudly for "bakshish."
The 28th: A Record of War Service in the Australian Imperial Force, 1915-19, Vol. I
Herbert Brayley Collett
My husband said he would pay for the twenty days and they would thus have thirty dollars as bakshish.
Southern Arabia
Theodore Bent

British Dictionary definitions for bakshish

baksheesh

backsheesh

(in some Eastern countries, esp formerly)

noun

money given as a tip, a present, or alms

verb

to give such money to (a person)

Word Origin for baksheesh

C17: from Persian bakhshīsh, from bakhshīdan to give; related to Sanskrit bhaksati he enjoys

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bakshish

baksheesh

1620s, in India, Egypt, etc., "a tip," from Persian bakhshish, literally "gift," from verb bakhshidan "to give" (also "to forgive"), from PIE root *bhag- "to share out, apportion, distribute" (see -phagous).