Romany

Romani

/ (ˈrɒmənɪ, ˈrəʊ-) /


noun
  1. plural -nies or -nis

    • another name for a Gypsy

    • (as modifier): Romany customs

  2. the language of the Gypsies, belonging to the Indic branch of the Indo-European family, but incorporating extensive borrowings from local European languages. Most of its 250 000 speakers are bilingual. It is extinct in Britain

Origin of Romany

1
C19: from Romany romani (adj) Gypsy, ultimately from Sanskrit domba man of a low caste of musicians, of Dravidian origin

Words Nearby Romany

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

How to use Romany in a sentence

  • They are fearless and without religion, save superstition, and they talk only their own varieties of the Romany tongue.

    Dracula | Bram Stoker
  • Petuléngro, farrier, the esoteric Romany name of the Smith family.

    Lavengro | George Borrow
  • First of all I made her give me a good bit of bacon, and then I began to mumble a few words in Romany.

    Carmen | Prosper Merimee
  • I have surely said enough to give the readers of Carmen a favourable idea of my Romany studies.

    Carmen | Prosper Merimee
  • In the Spanish Romany the verbs are all conjugated on the model of the first conjugation of the Castilian verbs.

    Carmen | Prosper Merimee