dervish

See also: Dervish

English

Alternative forms

• darwaysh, darwesh, dervice, dervis, dervise (archaic)

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish درویش (derviş), from Persian درویش (darvêš, “poor; Sufi mystic”), from Middle Persian dlgwš (driyōš, “poor, needy”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *drigu-, cognate with Sanskrit ध्रिगु (dhrigu, “needy”) and Avestan 𐬛𐬭𐬌𐬔𐬎 (driguš).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɜːvɪʃ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

dervish (plural dervishes)

1. (Islam) An itinerant Sufi mystic practicing voluntary poverty in devotion to God, and often engaging in ecstatic rituals.

   Synonym: fakir

   1. (historical) A citizen or inhabitant of Darawiish (circa 1895–1920 C.E.), an anti-colonial polity in modern Somalia headed by Sufis.
   2. (historical) One of the followers of Muhammad Ahmad, the Mahdi of the Sudan, in the 1880s.
   3. (by extension) Any irregular guerrilla fighter resembling the Sudanese Mahdi in equipment, uniform, tactics, etc.
      • 1926, T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, New York: Anchor, published 1991, page 104:

        The Hejaz war, meanwhile, would be one of dervishes against regular troops.

Derived terms

• dervishhood
• dervishism
• dervishlike
• Whirling Dervish

 

Translations

Sufi ascetic

• Arabic: دَرْوِيش m (darwīš)

  Egyptian Arabic: درويش m (darwīš)

• Armenian: դերվիշ (hy) (derviš)
• Azerbaijani: dərviş
• Belarusian: дэ́рвіш m (dérviš)
• Bengali: দরবেশ (bn) (dorbeś)
• Bulgarian: де́рвиш m (dérviš)
• Catalan: dervix m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 德爾維希／德尔维希 (dé'ěrwéixī), 托钵僧 (tuōbōsēng)

• Czech: derviš (cs) m
• Dutch: derwisj (nl) m
• Esperanto: derviŝo
• Estonian: derviš
• Finnish: dervissi (fi)
• French: derviche (fr) m
• Georgian: დერვიში (derviši)
• German: Derwisch (de) m, Derwischin f
• Greek: δερβίσης (el) m (dervísis), ντερβίσης (el) m (ntervísis)
• Hebrew: דרוויש m
• Hindi: दरवेश (hi) m (darveś)
• Hungarian: dervis (hu)
• Indonesian: darwis (id)
• Italian: derviscio (it) m
• Japanese: ダルヴィーシュ (daruvīshu)
• Kazakh: деревиш (dereviş)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دەروێش (derwêş)

  Northern Kurdish: dewrêş (ku), derwêş (ku)

• Kyrgyz: дербиш (ky) (derbiş), дарвиш (ky) (darviş)
• Macedonian: дервиш m (derviš)
• Manx: jervish
• Pashto: دروېش (ps) m (darweš)
• Persian: درویش (fa) (darviš)
• Polish: derwisz (pl) m
• Portuguese: dervixe (pt) m
• Romanian: derviș (ro) m
• Russian: де́рвиш (ru) m (dérviš)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: дервиш m

  Roman: derviš (sh) m

• Slovak: derviš m
• Slovene: derviš m
• Spanish: derviche m
• Swedish: dervisch (sv) c
• Tajik: дарвеш (darveš)
• Turkish: derviş (tr)
• Ukrainian: де́рвіш (uk) m (dérviš)
• Urdu: درویش m (darveś)
• Uzbek: darvesh (uz)
• Volapük: (♂♀) därvid (vo), (♂) hidärvid, (♀) jidärvid

Anagrams

• shrived