List of English words of Romani origin

These are words in the English language which potentially come from Romani.


 * chav (chav) – an anti-social youth (from chavi "child")
 * cosh (cosh) – a weapon, truncheon, baton (from košter "stick")
 * cove (cove) – British-English colloquial term meaning a person or chap (from kova "that person")
 * dick (dick) – detective (potentially from dik "look", "see" and by extension "watch")
 * gadjo (masc) or gadji (fem) – a non-Romani
 * nark (nark) – a police informer (from nāk "nose")
 * pal (pal) – friend (from phral "brother")
 * posh (posh) – fancy, upper-class (possibly from a Romani term for money)
 * Romanipen – the spirit of being Romani, "Romani-ness"
 * shiv (shiv) – an improvised knife or similar weapon (from chivomengro "knife")
 * wonga (wonga) – Cockney slang for money (from angar "coal")