Dragoman
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An interpreter, especially for the Arabic and Turkish languages. historical
"Engaging William Prime's (q.v.) dragoman, he visits the bazaars, mosques, and Pyramids before sailing in the dahabeeya Rip Van Winkle up the Nile."
- 2 an interpreter and guide in the Near East; in the Ottoman Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries a translator of European languages for the Turkish and Arab authorities and most dragomans were Greek (many reached high positions in the government) wordnet
Example
More examples"Engaging William Prime's (q.v.) dragoman, he visits the bazaars, mosques, and Pyramids before sailing in the dahabeeya Rip Van Winkle up the Nile."
Etymology
From Middle English dragman, from Old French drugeman, from Medieval Latin dragumannus, from Byzantine Greek δραγομάνος (dragomános), from Arabic تُرْجُمَان (turjumān), from Classical Syriac ܬܰܪܓܡܳܢܳܐ (targmānā), from Akkadian 𒅴𒁄 (targumannum, “interpreter”). With the plural form -men, through reinterpretation as suffixed with -man. Doublet of truchman.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.