spahi

Noun

spahi (plural spahis)

1. An Ottoman (Turkish empire) cavalryman, especially as recruited under a land-based system.
   • I hear that the great Sadiki Bey illustrated a copy of Strange Creatures, commissioned by an Uzbek spahi cavalryman, for only forty gold pieces.2001, Orhan Pamuk, My Name Is Red, tr. Erdağ M Göknar
2. A soldier in a mainly Arab-recruited cavalry (originally horse, later light armored) regiment in French colonial service in (former/ in name still) Ottoman North African provinces.
   • TARZAN’S first mission did not bid fair to be either exciting or vastly important. There was a certain lieutenant of spahis whom the government had reason to suspect of improper relations with a great European power.1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Dancing Girl of Sidi Aissa”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, page 86