sirdar
Americannoun
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(in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan) a military chief or leader.
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(formerly) the British commander of the Egyptian army.
noun
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a general or military leader in Pakistan and India
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(formerly) the title of the British commander in chief of the Egyptian Army
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a variant spelling of sardar
Etymology
Origin of sirdar
1605–15; < Hindi sardār < Persian
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
His father, who worked as a “sirdar” or “lead Sherpa” on the mountain, could no longer climb after losing several toes and fingers to frostbite.
From Seattle Times
From there, he became a sirdar — the sherpa in charge of managing all of the other sherpas in an expedition.
From Seattle Times
She scrolled through her phone with sirdars - lead Sherpas - showing them pictures of the dead, asking for identification.
From Washington Times
She proposed to Ngima Kale Sherpa, Fischer’s Base Camp sirdar, that they assemble a team of Sherpas to take Ngawang down the valley on foot.
From Literature
A few hundred yards higher up, the tangi widened out considerably, and here they found the sirdar and his following awaiting them.
From Project Gutenberg
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
