Meanings
plural badmashes · alternative badmaash · alternative budmash
- BritishIndiaPakistanSouth AsiaBritish PakistaniA rogue, ruffian or miscreant.First known use 19th c.
‘However big a badmash one is – if one's happy in consequence, that's some justification.’
1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin, published 2005, page 1022 more examples
Once the five had left for the village, the Dutchman had immediately begun working on the badmash who had stood up to the havildar.
2013, Garry Douglas Kilworth, Rogue OfficerHis wife laughed. “You'll see purdahs when we reach Port Said.” “And a bazaar?” “That's a market!” “Who's a badmash?” “A bad man is called a badmash. I'm not a badmash. Am I?”
2014, Dr. Ulhas R. Gunjal, Home, Again!: A Novel of Identity, Self-Discovery, and Tragedy
Origin
- Arabicعَاشَ“to live”
- Persianبدمعاش
- Hindustani
- Englishbadmash
Borrowed from Hindustani بدمعاش (badm'āś) / बदमाश (badmāś) and its source, Persian بدمعاش (badma'âš), from بد (bad, “bad, evil”) + معاش (ma'âš, “life, livelihood”), ultimately from Arabic عَاشَ (ʕāša, “to live”). Compare lowlife, which is a similar formation in English.
More words from Hindustani, Persian, Arabic
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with badmash
All rhymes →Cite this entry
badmash. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/badmash
“badmash.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/badmash. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “badmash,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/badmash.
Source: badmash on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.