dacoit
/dəˈkɔɪt/
dacoit noun: a bandit or armed robber, especially in former parts of British India.
Noun
dacoit (plural dacoits)
- A bandit or armed robber, especially in former parts of British India.
- […] she had harangued us on the subject of fever and cholera and bad water, had warned us solemnly against dacoits, and now she was hinting at ghosts.1893, Bithia Mary Croker, "The Dâk Bungalow at Dakor" in "To Let" etc., Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1906, p. 118, https://archive.org/details/toletcroker00crok
- If any village failed in its tribute U Po Kyin took punitive measures—gangs of dacoits attacked the village, leading villagers were arrested on false charges, and so forth—and it was never long before the amount was paid up.1934, George Orwell, chapter 1, in Burmese Days
Verb
dacoit (third-person singular simple present dacoits, present participle dacoiting, simple past and past participle dacoited)
- To commit armed robbery.
dacoit meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Kannada
dacoit in Hindi
- bandit or armed robber in South Asia
- डाकू ḍākū, डकैत ḍakait
dacoit in Tamil
- குழுக் கொள்ளைக்காரன்
dacoit in Urdu
- ڈکیت
dacoit in Kannada
- ಡಕಾಯಿತ, ದರೋಡೆಕೋರ
More languagesFewer languages
- dacoit in Myanmar
- ဓားပြ dha:pra.
Examples of dacoit in a sentence
- On the way back Boyles led him down a lampless lane, and sure enough, a pair of dacoits pounced on them.1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 49:
- “The notorious forest brigand, bandit, murderer and dacoit, Veerappan, along with his entire gang, has been shot dead,” Jayaram Jayalalithaa, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu State, announced.2004 October 20, Catherine Philp, “India's Bandit King is betrayed”, in The Times, London:
- A very athletic female dacoit was arrested in North Nazimabad in Karachi after she vaulted over a nine-foot wall, following her unsuccessful attempt at armed robbery in the house of a retired banker.2007 April 21, “EDITORIAL: Pakistani Phoolan Devi’s short career”, in Daily Times, Pakistan:
Forms of dacoit
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | dacoits |
| alternative form | dacoo |
| alternative form | dakoit |
| alternative form | dakoo |
| alternative form | decoit |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | dacoits |
| present participle | dacoiting |
| past participle | dacoited |
| past | dacoited |
Origin of dacoit
Borrowed from Hindustani ڈکیت / डकैत (ḍakait), from ڈاکا (ḍākā) / डाका (ḍākā, “gang-robbery”).
Words formed from dacoit
Words that rhyme with dacoit
Questions about dacoit
- What does dacoit mean?
- Dacoit means a bandit or armed robber, especially in former parts of British India.
- What is dacoit in Hindi?
- Dacoit in Hindi is डाकू (ḍākū), डकैत (ḍakait). See Dacoit meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use dacoit in a sentence?
- On the way back Boyles led him down a lampless lane, and sure enough, a pair of dacoits pounced on them.
- What part of speech is dacoit?
- Dacoit can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce dacoit?
- Dacoit is pronounced /dəˈkɔɪt/.
- What is the plural of dacoit?
- The plural of dacoit is dacoits.
Words near dacoit in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dacoit (page history and authors); dacoit (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dacoit (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dacoit (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-decoit.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-dacoit.wav.
Cite this entry: “dacoit.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dacoit. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.