Cossack

Meaning

1. A member or descendant of an originally (semi-)nomadic population of Eastern Europe and the adjacent parts of Asia, formed in part of runaways from neighbouring countries, that eventually settled in parts of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Russian tsarist Empire and constituted a military caste, particularly in areas now comprising southern Russia and Ukraine.
2. A member of a military unit (typically cavalry, originally recruited exclusively from the above).
3. (obsolete) A Ukrainian.
4. A mercenary; a regular or irregular soldier employed to persecute or oppress disfavoured groups, or in massacres of such groups, such as in anti-Jewish pogroms; a police officer or private security guard, particularly one used in strike-breaking; a violent thug.
5. A mercenary; a regular or irregular soldier employed to persecute or oppress disfavoured groups, or in massacres of such groups, such as in anti-Jewish pogroms; a police officer or private security guard, particularly one used in strike-breaking; a violent thug.

Concepts

Cossack

Cossack’s

Hyphenated as

Cos‧sack

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkɒsˌæk/

Etymology

From Middle French cosaque, from Middle Polish Kozak, from Old Ukrainian коза́къ (kozák), from Kipchak *qazaq (whence Armeno-Kipchak խազախ (xazax)), from Old Turkic 𐰴𐰔𐰍𐰸 (*qazǧaq, “profiteer”), from 𐰴𐰔𐰍𐰣𐰢𐰴 (qazǧanmaq, “to acquire”), from 𐰴𐰔𐰢𐰴 (qazmaq, “to dig out”), from Proto-Turkic *kaŕ-. Doublet of Kazakh. First appears c. 1587 in the writings of George Turberville.