gypsy
Formsgypsies, gypsying, gypsied
- 1A member of the Romani people or one of its groups, such as the Roma or Sinti, or of another traditionally traveling people, such as Irish Travellers.
The novelist, a Gypsy by birth, wrote movingly about the prejudice her family faced.
Hundreds of thousands of Gypsies were deported and murdered during World War II.
UsageWritten with a capital for the people. Many prefer Romani, or the group's own name, such as Roma or Sinti.
- 2Relating to or belonging to the Romani people or to one of their groups, such as the Roma, Sinti, or Romanichal.
The violinist learned the old Gypsy melodies from her grandfather.
Local officials met with Gypsy community leaders to discuss the housing shortage.
UsageCapitalized. Romani is the safer adjective: Romani music, Romani community leaders.
- 3Wandering from place to place, or having the qualities of a person or group that lives that way.
Years of gypsy living had taught him to fit everything he owned into two suitcases.
Her gypsy childhood, spent following her father from one oil field to the next, left her with friends in a dozen states.
UsageUsually before a noun, in lowercase: a gypsy life, a gypsy spirit. Wandering or nomadic says it without a people's name.
Similarnomadic, itinerant, wandering, roving, peripatetic
- 4A person who lives a wandering life, not necessarily of Romani descent, such as a tinker, a traveler, or a carnival worker.
After college she spent five years as a gypsy, waiting tables in whatever town she landed in.
After years on the road with the carnival, he still thought of himself as a gypsy at heart.
UsageWanderer or drifter says the same without borrowing a people's name.
Similarwanderer, drifter, nomad, vagabond, rover
Note
The name of the Romani people stretched to cover anyone who lives on the move, the way Bohemia gave us bohemian; tinkers, travelers and carnival hands all got the label. By Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra it already carried a hint of trickery: "Like a right gypsy, hath, at fast and loose, Beguiled me."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The Romani designation acquired a broader sense covering itinerant people, including tinkers, travelers and carnival workers. en.wiktionary.org
- Bohemian derives ultimately from the place-name Bohemia. en.wiktionary.org
- The quotation occurs in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra; Antony speaks it about Cleopatra in Act 4, scene 12. The item excerpts its opening words. folger.edu
- The word carries an association with trickery in this passage. shakespeare.edel.univ-poitiers.fr
Less common meanings
- 5A person who tells fortunes, predicting what lies ahead in someone's life.
Before the wedding, her mother went to a gypsy to ask whether the marriage would be happy.
The gypsies at the county fair did a brisk business reading palms.
UsageUse fortune teller instead, or palm reader if the person reads palms.
Similarfortune-teller, soothsayer
Note
As a name for a fortune teller the word is dated, and it fuses a trade with a people: the person reading palms at a fair need not be Romani at all.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Gypsy has a dated fortune-teller sense. en.wiktionary.org
- The occupational label also denotes an ethnic group. en.wiktionary.org
- Palm reading is not restricted to Romani people. en.wikipedia.org
- 6Having the qualities traditionally and offensively ascribed to Romani and other itinerant people, especially that of living by dishonest practices or theft.
UsageWhere trickery is meant, say dishonest or crooked instead.
Note
The stereotype is at its baldest here, pinning dishonesty and theft on Romani and other traveling people as a group.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- This sense reflects a stereotype attributing dishonesty and theft to Romani and other itinerant people. en.wiktionary.org
- 7To roam around the country, wandering from place to place as itinerant people do.
They spent the summer gypsying through the small towns of the Southwest.
Musicians who gypsy from gig to gig rarely own much furniture.
UsageCan be followed by through or around and a place. Forms: gypsies, gypsied, gypsying.
Similarwander, roam, rove, drift
Note
The verb could name a pleasure as well as a way of life: in Richard F. Burton's The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, families spend the day out of doors "Gypsying" and greatly enjoy themselves.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Richard F. Burton translated and annotated The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night. gutenberg.org
- Burton uses “Gypsying” in a footnote describing families enjoying time outdoors, supporting the note's interpretation of it as a pleasure. gutenberg.org
- 8A performer in the chorus line of a Broadway musical.
After a decade as a Broadway gypsy, he knew every dance captain in the business.
Between shows, the gypsies gathered backstage to stretch and swap audition gossip.
UsageOften a Broadway gypsy.
Note
Theater people use it for the ensemble rather than the leads, and it says nothing about a performer's background. It lives in rehearsal rooms and dressing rooms; a program or a review may say chorus or ensemble member instead.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- Reviews also use gypsies for Broadway chorus performers. theericahansen.com
- 9
- 10Someone whose skin tone or overall coloring is dark.
UsageToday use a dark-skinned person or a dark-complexioned person.
Note
Older speech used the word for coloring alone, applied to people whatever their family background.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The word historically referred to a person with a dark complexion. en.wiktionary.org
- 11A woman who is sly and roguish, full of mischief and cunning.
Note
The word bundled charm with cunning: a woman who gets her way through mischief rather than malice.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The word historically described a sly, roguish woman. en.wiktionary.org
- 12A first name for a girl or woman.
- 13A contra dance figure in which two dancers walk in a circle around each other, keeping eye contact without touching as they would in a swing.
- 14In contra dancing, to dance the gypsy figure, walking in a circle around another dancer while keeping eye contact.
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Origin
From Gypsy, the traditional English name for the Romani people. That name comes from Egyptian, after a medieval belief that the Romani had come from Egypt.