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definitions

sirdar

or sar·dar

[ser-dahr]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sirdar ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

(in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan) a military chief or leader.
(formerly) the British commander of the Egyptian army.

RELATED WORDS

commander, commandant, general, co, hetman

Origin of sirdar

1605–15; < Hindi sardār < Persian
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for sirdar

Historical Examples of sirdar

  • At the conclusion, General Hunter and the other officers shook hands with the Sirdar, one by one.

  • The Sirdar sent a peremptory order, without a word of explanation, for that cleric to embark forthwith and return to Cairo.

  • All this with the shadow of the Sirdar pointing towards them—to fall even sooner than the officers perchance anticipated.

    Fifty-One Years of Victorian Life

    Margaret Elizabeth Leigh Child-Villiers, Countess of Jersey

  • The Sirdar conversed with the prisoner, and a fruitless effort was made to find the jailer and have Neufeld's irons removed.

  • The odds would be too heavy, and the Sirdar is not a man to risk failure.

British Dictionary definitions for sirdar

sirdar

noun

a general or military leader in Pakistan and India
(formerly) the title of the British commander in chief of the Egyptian Army
a variant spelling of sardar

Word Origin for sirdar

from Hindi sardār, from Persian, from sar head + dār possession
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