Tsotsi

//ˈtsɒtsi// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A hoodlum or street thug, especially one from the townships; a township skollie. South-Africa

    "A gang of tsotsis – hooligans – attacked a group of older men, and when the owner tried to throw them out they ran amok in the place, smashing everything in their way."

Example

More examples

"A gang of tsotsis – hooligans – attacked a group of older men, and when the owner tried to throw them out they ran amok in the place, smashing everything in their way."

Etymology

Uncertain. Compare Shona tsotsi (“criminal”)

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