Tzigane

[ tsi-gahn ]

adjective

1. (often lowercase) of, consisting of, or pertaining to the Roma:

   Tzigane music.

noun

1. a Romani, especially one from Hungary.

Tzigane

/ tsɪˈɡɑːn; sɪ- /

noun

1. 1. a Gypsy, esp a Hungarian one
   2. ( as modifier )

      Tzigane music

Word History and Origins

Origin of Tzigane¹

First recorded in 1880–85; from French tzigane, probably from Hungarian cigány, akin to German Zigeuner, Romanian ţigan, Serbo-Croatian cȉganin, Bulgarian tsíganin, all ultimately from Medieval Greek (a)tsínganos, earlier athínganos member of a heretical sect of Phrygia, perhaps literally, “untouchable, inviolable” ( Greek a- “not, without” + -thinganos, derivative of thingánein “to touch”); zingaro

Word History and Origins

Origin of Tzigane¹

C19: via French from Hungarian czigány Gypsy, of uncertain origin

Example Sentences

The red Tzigane orchestra were already filing into the restaurant and the electric lamps were lit.

From Project Gutenberg

And you, you lowborn Tzigane, are the cheapest swindler on earth.

From Project Gutenberg

Somebody played the languorous waltzes of the Tzigane orchestras on the piano.

From Project Gutenberg

They hired the best Tzigane orchestra in Paris—and the fashionable crowd stayed away.

From Project Gutenberg

He now spoke in English, but later he relapsed into the Tzigane tongue.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• Romanichal
• tzigane
• zingara
• zingaro