Word.ws English Dictionary

backsheesh

backsheesh is the alternative spelling of baksheesh.

Meaning of baksheesh

Noun

baksheesh (usually uncountable, plural baksheeshes)

  1. (usually) In the Middle East or southwest Asia: a bribe or tip.
    • What an honour to think that I am to be elevated to the throne, and to bring the seat in Parliament as backsheesh to the sultan!1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Temptation”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 265
  2. (slang, usually) A minor wound that necessitates the evacuation of a soldier from the combat zone for medical treatment.
    • When we had made the boys as comfortable as possible and given them fags, of which our Padre seemed to have an inexhaustable^([sic]) supply, they were quite cheerful, and joked about “backsheesh” wounds.1981, The Kia Ora Coo-ee: The Magazine for the ANZACS in the Middle East, 1918, →ISBN

See all 3 meanings of baksheesh

Forms of backsheesh

Noun
pluralbacksheeshes
Verb
third-person singular presentbacksheeshes
present participlebacksheeshing
past participlebacksheeshed
pastbacksheeshed

Questions about backsheesh

What is backsheesh the alternative spelling of?
Backsheesh is the alternative spelling of baksheesh.

Words near backsheesh in the dictionary

  1. backshadowings
  2. backshadows
  3. Backshall
  4. backshee
  5. backshees
  6. backsheesh
  7. backsheeshed
  8. backsheeshes
  9. backsheeshing
  10. backsheet
  11. backsheets

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: backsheesh (page history and authors); baksheesh (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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