sirdar
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈsɪrˌdɑr/
- Archaic
:
sirdar
- Many sirdars play crucial roles in organizing logistics and ensuring the success of treks.
Examples
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Skilled group leaders, sirdars, and cooks receive salaries year-round, even though they work less than half the year.
Academic text (1993) -
The sirdar of the expedition coordinated the efforts of all team members.
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Only one or two women have served as sirdars.
Academic text (1993) -
Sirdars often earn ten times the national average per capita income or more.
Academic text (1993) -
Most days, our kitchen tent was visited by Sherpas from other camps, many of them relatives of our sirdar, Mingma Ongel.
Blog text (26) -
For most families, tourism earnings come from employment in trekking as guides and group leaders, as sirdars who manage staff and porters, as cooks, or as members of camp and kitchen crews.
Academic text (1993) -
Most of the Indians were housed in lines of thatched huts in the sugar estate camps and worked as laborers and overseers (sirdar).
Academic text (1994) -
The next day, the various expedition leaders and sirdars (an expedition's head Sherpa) held an impromptu meeting to discuss the dangerous rockfall.
Blog text (26) -
Similarly, few Khumbu Sherpas undertake the difficult and dangerous work of sirdar or high-altitude porter for mountaineering expeditions (Fisher 1990).
Academic text (1993) -
As a respected sirdar, he was responsible for leading the group safely through the mountains.
Synonyms
A respected leader who makes decisions for a village or community
A leader who commands soldiers and protects a city or caravan in former times
A person who is the most important leader in a field
How Powerful
Surface Forms
Etymology
Sirdar comes from the Persian and Hindi word sardar, from sar meaning 'head' or 'chief'. So a sirdar is literally the 'head' of a group, which is why it means a leader or commander, often used for military or local leaders in India.