Arnaut

A1R1N1A1U1T1
US/ˈɑɹˌnaʊt/

noun

An inhabitant of Albania and neighboring mountainous regions, especially an Albanian serving in the Turkish army.

OriginTurkish arnavut ← Ottoman Turkish آرناوود ← Ancient Greek Ἀλβανοί →
Scrabble 6
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Meanings

nounArnaut (plural Arnauts)

plural Arnauts · alternative Arnaout

  1. historicalAn inhabitant of Albania and neighboring mountainous regions, especially an Albanian serving in the Turkish army.

    I know him by his jet-black barb, / Though now array'd in Arnaut garb, [...]

    1813, Lord Byron, The Giaour, a Fragment of a Turkish Tale, London: […] T[homas] Davison, […], for John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 18
  2. historicalgovernmentA Greek, Albanian, Bulgarian or Serbian soldier, recruited to serve as body-guard to officials in the 18th-19th c. Wallachia and Moldavia. Greek militia units formed in Crimea, 1769.

    Included under the generic name of Arnauts, it was recruited from Roumeliote Greeks, Albanians, Bulgarians, and Servians, who acted as body-guards to the princes, the great functionaries, and eve the simple Boyards [in Danubian Principalities, early 19th c.]

    1844, Thomas Gordon, History of the Greek Revolution, 2nd edition, volume 1, page 1

Origin

  1. Ancient GreekἈλβανοί
  2. Ottoman Turkishآرناوود“an Albanian”
  3. Turkisharnavut
  4. EnglishArnaut

From Turkish arnavut, from Ottoman Turkish آرناوود (arnavut, “an Albanian”). Entered Ottoman Turkish from the Medieval Greek ethnonym Arvanitis (Ἀρβανίτης) after the syllable cluster van was rearranged through metathesis to nav giving the final Turkish forms as Arnavut and Arnaut. Meanwhile in Greek the name Arvanitis was derived from the original term Alvanitis (Ἀλβάνίτης) as a process of rhotacism Alv- into Arv-. In return Alvanitis stems from the name Alvanos (Ἀλβάνος) Albanian, from Ancient Greek Ἀλβανοί (Albanoí).

More words from Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Portuguese arnauta, Arnauto
  • arnautaAlbanian, especially one serving in the Ottoman army
  • ArnautoAlbanian, especially one serving in the Ottoman army

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

AturanTuaran
Cite this entry
APA

Arnaut. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Arnaut

MLA

“Arnaut.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Arnaut. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Arnaut,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Arnaut.

Source: Arnaut on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.