turcopole

T1U1R1C3O1P3O1L1E1

noun

A mounted archer locally recruited by the Christian states during the Crusades.

Scrabble 13

Meanings

nounturcopole (plural turcopoles)

plural turcopoles

  1. historicalA mounted archer locally recruited by the Christian states during the Crusades.

    However, the local half-caste soldiers, the Turcopoles, second-generation poor and orientalized Latins known as poulains, Venetian and Genoese merchants and newly arrived knights needed the taverns and pleasures of any military town.

    2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography – A History of the Middle East, page 270
    1 more example

    Thus in March 1460, the council ordered the restoration of a turcopole removed from office by the lieutenant turcopolier in a manner not in accordance with the statutes, while some sixteen years later the master and council ruled that the lieutenant turcopolier had wrongly removed a turcopole of Paravibilinos whose horse had damaged vines and other possessions.

    2005, Gregory O'Malley, The Knights Hospitaller of the English Langue 1460-1565, page 307

Origin

  1. Medieval Greekτουρκόπουλοι“sons of Turks”
  2. Englishturcopole

From Medieval Greek τουρκόπουλοι (tourkópouloi, “sons of Turks”), from Τοῦρκος (Toûrkos) + -πουλος (-poulos).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

turcopole. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/turcopole

MLA

“turcopole.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/turcopole. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “turcopole,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/turcopole.

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