gypsy
/ˈd͡ʒɪp.si//ˈd͡ʒɪp.si/
gypsy noun: an itinerant person or any person, not necessarily Romani; a tinker, a traveller or a carny. Also the alternative letter-case form of Gypsy.
Noun (1)
gypsy (plural gypsies)
- An itinerant person or any person, not necessarily Romani; a tinker, a traveller or a carny.
- Like a right gypsy, hath, at fast and loose, Beguiled me to the very heart of loss.c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
- A move in contra dancing in which two dancers walk in a circle around each other while maintaining eye contact (but not touching as in a swing). (Compare whole gyp, half gyp, and gypsy meltdown, in which this step precedes a swing.)
- A member of a Broadway musical chorus line.
- A person with a dark complexion.
- A sly, roguish woman.
- A fortune teller.
Adjective (1)
gypsy (not comparable)
Verb
gypsy (third-person singular simple present gypsies, present participle gypsying, simple past and past participle gypsied)
- To roam around the country like a gypsy.
- The rest of the day is spent out of doors "Gypsying", and families greatly enjoy themselves on these occasions.1885, Richard F. Burton, chapter XX, in The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, volume I, The Burton Club, page 199 footnote
- To perform the gypsy step in contra dancing.
- Look at the person you're gypsying with, and convey the message that you notice them as a person and that you're glad that they're there, […]1992 April 7, win...@ssrl01.slac.stanford.edu, “contra-gypsies”, in rec.folk-dancing (Usenet)
- The only one I know of is The Tease by Tom Hinds which starts with the actives gypsying and then swinging their neighbors and ends with contra […]1998 September 9, Jonathan Sivier, “Contra Corners - followed by gypsy”, in rec.folk-dancing (Usenet)
Noun (2) capitalized: Gypsy
Gypsy (plural Gypsies)
Proper noun capitalized: Gypsy
Gypsy
- The language Romani.
- A female given name.
- "Why, good afternoon, Miss Gypsy," said Sir Simms; "I'm surprised to see you such a warm day — very much surprised. But you always were a remarkable young lady ..."1894, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Gypsy Breynton, page 130
Adjective (2) capitalized: Gypsy
Gypsy (not comparable)
Also used as
gypsy is also the alternative letter-case form of Gypsy.
gypsy is also the alternative form of Gypsy.
gypsy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
gypsy in Hindi
- any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft
- यायावार yāyāvār, जिप्सी jipsī
gypsy in Tamil
- ஜிப்சி, ஜிப்ஸி
gypsy in Marathi
- जिप्सी, जिप्शी
gypsy in Urdu
- جپسی, جیپسی
More languagesFewer languages
- gypsy in Bengali
- জিপসি, জিপ্সি
- gypsy in Telugu
- జిప్సీ, జిప్సి
- gypsy in Malayalam
- ജിപ്സി, ജിപ്സിക്ക്
- gypsy in Kannada
- ಜಿಪ್ಸಿ, ಜಿಪ್ಸಿಯು, ಜಿಪ್ಸೀ
- gypsy in Punjabi
- ਜਿਪਸੀ, ਜਿਪ੍ਸੀ, ਜ਼ਿਪਸੀ
- gypsy in Gujarati
- જિપ્સી, જીપ્સી, જીપ્સીંગ
- gypsy in Odia
- ଜିପ୍ସି, ଜିପସି, ଜିପ୍ସୀ
- gypsy in Nepali
- जिप्सी, जिपसी
- gypsy in Arabic
- غَجَرِيّ ḡajariyy, غَجَرِيَّة ḡajariyya
- gypsy in Persian
- کولی kowli
- gypsy in Thai
- ยิปซี yíp-sii
- gypsy in Vietnamese
- digan, dân gipsi, người Di Gan, dân gipxi
Examples of gypsy in a sentence
- Smooth hair, tight rippy jeans, one of those no-shoulder gypsy shirts.
- Gypsy and jet set compression, the season of the sun celebrates the era of gypset fashion.
- She'd used the old gypsy word for gun and in her panicked state she had't even noticed.
Synonyms of gypsy
Forms of gypsy
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | gypsies |
| plural | Gypsies |
| alternative form (dated) | gipsy |
| alternative form (obsolete) | gipsey |
| alternative form (obsolete) | gypsey |
| alternative form (obsolete) | gypsie |
| alternative form (obsolete) | gyptian |
| alternative form (dated) | Gipsy |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | gypsies |
| present participle | gypsying |
| past participle | gypsied |
| past | gypsied |
Origin of gypsy
See Gypsy. Compare bohemian, from Bohemia.
A clipping of Gyptian (in Early Modern English roughly /ˈd͡ʒɪp.sɪ.æn/), itself an apheretic form of Egyptian, from Middle English Egipcian (“Egyptian”) (rarely Gypcian), from Old French egyptien, from Latin aegyptianus, from aegyptius (“Egypt”), because when Roma first appeared in England in the sixteenth century, they were wrongly believed to have come from Egypt. The Albanian evgjit, Greek γύφτος (gýftos), Italian gitano, Spanish gitano and Turkish Kıpti have the same origin. Doublet of Egyptian and Copt. The other major categories of words for the Roma are cognates of Rom (words related to the Romani people's autonyms) and cognates of tzigane (words derived from Greek); see those entries for more information.
Words formed from gypsy
- English Gypsy
- Pakistani Gypsy
- antigypsy
- dance gypsy
- gyplure
- gyppy
- gypsify
- gypsiologist
- gypsiology
- gypsy cop
- gypsycraft
- gypsy cream
- gypsydom
- gypsyesque
- gypsy hat
- gypsyish
- gypsyism
- gypsy jazz
- gypsylike
- gypsy moon
- gypsy ring
- gypsy rose
- gypsy sauce
- gypsy setting
- gypsy's kiss
- gypsy swing
- gypsy table
- gypsy tart
- gypsy truck
- gypsy wagon
- gypsyweed
- gypsy winch
- gypsywort
- nongypsy
- gyp
- gip
- gypsy cab
- gypsy moth
- gypsy mushroom
Phrases with gypsy
- Gypsy Day
- gypsy cabs
- gypsy hats
- gypsy moons
- gypsy moths
- gypsy rings
- gypsy roses
- gypsy tarts
- gypsy creams
- gypsy tables
- gypsy trucks
- gypsy wagons
4 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with gypsy
Questions about gypsy
- What does gypsy mean?
- Gypsy means an itinerant person or any person, not necessarily Romani; a tinker, a traveller or a carny.
- What is gypsy in Hindi?
- Gypsy in Hindi is यायावार (yāyāvār), जिप्सी (jipsī). See Gypsy meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is gypsy?
- Gypsy can be a noun, an adjective, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce gypsy?
- Gypsy is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒɪp.si/.
- What is the plural of gypsy?
- The plural of gypsy is gypsies.
Words near gypsy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gypsy (page history and authors); Gypsy (page history and authors); gypsy (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gypsy (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gypsy (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gypsy (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gypsy (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gypsy (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gypsy (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gypsy (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gypsy (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gypsy (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gypsy (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: en-us-gypsy.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Gypsy.wav.
Cite this entry: “gypsy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gypsy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.