# gypsy

Pronunciation: say "JIP-see" /ˈd͡ʒɪp.si/

## Noun · Gypsy

1. A 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.
   - Simple: A person from the Romani people, or from another group whose way of life is traveling from place to place.
   - _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._

## Adjective · Gypsy

2. Relating to or belonging to the Romani people or to one of their groups, such as the Roma, Sinti, or Romanichal.
   - Simple: Of or from the Romani people or one of their groups, such as the Roma or Sinti.
   - _The violinist learned the old Gypsy melodies from her grandfather._
   - _Local officials met with Gypsy community leaders to discuss the housing shortage._

## Adjective

3. Wandering from place to place, or having the qualities of a person or group that lives that way.
   - Simple: Moving from place to place, or like people who live 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._
6. Having the qualities traditionally and offensively ascribed to Romani and other itinerant people, especially that of living by dishonest practices or theft.
   - Simple: Used as an insult to say that traveling people live by cheating or stealing, from old ideas about Romani people.

## Noun

4. A person who lives a wandering life, not necessarily of Romani descent, such as a tinker, a traveler, or a carnival worker. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A person who keeps moving from place to place, who may or may not be Romani.
   - _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._
8. A performer in the chorus line of a Broadway musical.
   - Simple: A person who dances 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._

## Verb

7. To roam around the country, wandering from place to place as itinerant people do.
   - Simple: To travel around the country from place to place, like a wanderer.
   - _They spent the summer gypsying through the small towns of the Southwest._
   - _Musicians who gypsy from gig to gig rarely own much furniture._

## Noun

5. A person who tells fortunes, predicting what lies ahead in someone's life. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A person who tells fortunes, saying what will happen in someone's future.
   - _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._
10. Someone whose skin tone or overall coloring is dark. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A person whose skin is dark.
11. A woman who is sly and roguish, full of mischief and cunning. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A woman who is clever, tricky, and a little naughty.

## Proper noun · Gypsy

9. The Romani language. *(rare)*
   - Simple: The language of the Romani people.

## Other meanings

- (proper noun) A first name for a girl or woman.
- (noun) A 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.
- (verb) In contra dancing, to dance the gypsy figure, walking in a circle around another dancer while keeping eye contact.

## 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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/gypsy (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).