Kukri

//ˈkʊkɹi// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A curved Nepalese knife used especially by Gurkha fighters; many variants exist, but all share recurve as a common theme.

    "In the later part of the Second World War it was customary in the French army to vaunt the ferocity of ‘their’ Algerian Tirailleurs against the Germans, much as the British took pride in the deeds performed by the Gurkhas with their terrible kukris."

Example

More examples

"In the later part of the Second World War it was customary in the French army to vaunt the ferocity of ‘their’ Algerian Tirailleurs against the Germans, much as the British took pride in the deeds performed by the Gurkhas with their terrible kukris."

Etymology

From Nepali खुकुरी (khukurī).

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.