Chetnik

[chet-neek, chet-nik]

noun

1. a member of a Serbian nationalist group that fought against the Turks in the early part of the 20th century and carried on guerrilla warfare during World War I and II.

Chetnik

/ ˈtʃɛtnɪk, tʃɛtˈniːk /

noun

1. a Serbian nationalist belonging to a group that fought against the Turks before World War I and engaged in guerrilla warfare during both World Wars

2. a member of a Serbian nationalist paramilitary group fighting to retain Serbian influence in the countries which formerly constituted Yugoslavia

Word History and Origins

Origin of Chetnik¹

1905–10; < Serbo-Croatian čȅtnīk guerrilla, equivalent to čȅt ( a ) troop (cognate with Old Russian cheta, Czech četa ) + -nīk agent suffix ( -nik )

Word History and Origins

Origin of Chetnik¹

from Serbian četnik, from četa troop

Example Sentences

In “brb” a supposedly 17-year-old boy writes his online American girlfriend: “Croatia is not that different from Florida. . . . Like your Confederates, Chetnik Serbs still curse at us and say we are the aggressor, the destroyer of the Republic.”

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"In any case, the cap is part of the folklore, the traditional outfit of people here. When it comes to the insignia in the photo, that wasn't the Chetnik insignia - it was the insignia of the old Yugoslav army from the First World War, in which many Bosniaks served."

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The ghost of Mihailovic's ultra-nationalist Chetnik fighters was revived by some Serb paramilitaries as they fought to carve out a Greater Serbia during Yugoslavia's bloody disintegration.

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Soon 15 to 20 uniformed Chetnik Freedom Fighters arrived and took everything from them and their plane except sufficient clothing to keep warm.

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Newsweek’s reporter noted that neighbours, wise to the circumstances of Alen’s birth, had already begun to describe him as the “little Chetnik”, a derogatory term for a Serb.

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