czardas

American  

[chahr-dahsh] / ˈtʃɑr dɑʃ /

Or csardas

noun

1. a Hungarian national dance in two movements, one slow and the other fast.

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czardas British  

/ ˈtʃɑːdæʃ /

noun

1. a Hungarian national dance of alternating slow and fast sections

2. a piece of music composed for or in the rhythm of this dance

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Etymology

Origin of czardas

First recorded in 1855–60; from Hungarian csárdás, equivalent to csárda “wayside tavern” (from Serbo-Croatian čȁrdāk originally, “watchtower,” from Turkish çardak “bower, booth, pergola,” from Persian chārtāk “four-cornered room”; čār “four” + tāk “vault”) + -s adjective suffix; earlier csárdák was analyzed as csárda + -k plural suffix

Example Sentences

Orchester Prazevica The music of Slovak guitarist Tomas Drgon’s string combo mixes Eastern European czardas, Gypsy swing and jazz.

From Washington Post • Oct. 4, 2016

And in “Cortège Hongrois,” set to music from Glazunov’s “Raymonda,” Mikayla Lambert and Mr. Farley led the classical couples, while Christina Ghiardi and Mr. Coll fronted the lively czardas group.

From New York Times • Jun. 7, 2012

Bebe Neuwirth was a classy host in a sparkling jeweled choker who wittily commented on her script, ad-libbed and did a snatch of the czardas from “Coppélia” in her Manolos.

From New York Times • Oct. 25, 2011

Audiences may be pardoned for anticipating a czardas instead of a square dance in the closing pageant, but otherwise Actress Bergner's linguistic eccentricities actually serve a useful purpose.

From Time Magazine Archive

Here I first danced the czardas; it is an epoch in a man's life, but you must see it, feel it, dance it, and, above all, hear the gipsy music that inspires it.

From Round About the Carpathians by Crosse, Andrew F.