Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Thug |
ThugNoun1. An aggressive and violent young criminal. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "thug" was first used: 1810. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Thuggee was an Indian cult worshipping Kali whose members were known as Thugs. It was allegedly a hereditary cult with both Muslim and Hindu members that practiced large-scale robbery and murder of travellers by strangulation. Induction was typically passed from father to son, with the women of the household being kept ignorant of the cult activity.Thuggee was suppressed by the British rulers of India in the 1830s, due largely to the extensive efforts of William Sleeman. A police organisation known as the Thuggee and Dacoity Department was established within the Government of India and remained in existence until 1904 when it was replaced by the Central Criminal Intelligence Department. The defeat of the cult secured Indian loyalty to the British Crown for decades.
The story of Thuggee was popularised by books such as Philip Meadows Taylor's novel Confessions of a Thug, 1839, leading to the word "thug" entering the English language. A more recent book is George Bruce, The Stranglers: The cult of Thuggee and its overthrow in British India (1968).
The two most popular depictions of the cult in film are the 1939 film, Gunga Din and the 1984 Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Both films have the heroes fighting secret revivals of the cult to prevent them resuming their reigns of terror.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Thuggee."
Synonyms: ThugSynonyms: goon (n), hood (n), hoodlum (n), punk (n), strong-armer (n), tough (n), toughie (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Bad Man | Culprit, delinquent, crook, hoodlum, hood, criminal, thug, malefactor, offender, perpetrator, perp; disorderly person, misdemeanant; outlaw; scofflaw; vandal; felon; convict, prisoner, inmate, jail bird, ticket of leave man; multiple offender. |
Killing | Butcher, slayer, murderer, Cain, assassin, terrorist, cutthroat, garroter, bravo, Thug, Moloch, matador, sabreur; guet-a-pens; gallows, executioner. (punishment); man-eater, apache, hatchet man, highbinder. |
Thief | Spoiler, depredator, pillager, marauder; harpy, shark, land shark, falcon, mosstrooper, bushranger, Bedouin, brigand, freebooter, bandit, thug, dacoit; pirate, corsair, viking, Paul Jones, buccaneer, buccanier; piqueerer, pickeerer; rover, ranger, privateer, filibuster; rapparee, wrecker, picaroon; smuggler, poacher; abductor, badger, bunko man, cattle thief, chor, contrabandist, crook, hawk, holdup man, hold-up, jackleg, kidnaper, rustler, cattle rustler, sandbagger, sea king, skin, sneak thief, spieler, strong-arm man. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Thug |
| Specialty definitions using "thug": Baby Loke ♦ Street. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Thug" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Irish (gave), Manx (thug ), Scottish (bave). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Now I know what you are. You're not a man; you're not a leader; you're a black thug! (Badge of the Assassin; writing credit: Lawrence Roman; Philip Rosenberg) | |
Lyrics | Uh huh cause I'm a thug (I'm a Thug; performing artist: Trick Daddy) Recognize the struggle live it like a thug do (Life Story; performing artist: Black Rob) My thug appeal (Bring It All To Me; performing artist: Blaque) I like a thug in my life to get by (That's What I'm Looking For; performing artist: Da Brat) Holla that's what a pretty thug will do (Young'n; performing artist: Fabolous) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Thug Life (2001) Banarasi Thug (1962) Dilli Ka Thug (1958) Delhi Ka Thug (1935) Tupac Shakur: Thug Angel (2002) | |
Song Titles | I'm A Thug (performing artist: Trick Daddy) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | The thug. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Human Rights | Benin | In April in Bante sub-prefecture, newspapers reported that "an enraged mob" set on fire and burned to death a suspected sorcerer and an accused thug. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Thug" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 95.79% of the time. "Thug" is used about 95 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 95.79% | 91 | 34,491 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 2.11% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.05% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Noun (common) | 1.05% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 95 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "thug": neo-thug. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
bone thug n harmony | 2,803 | slim thug | 122 |
bone thug | 1,916 | black gay thug | 116 |
thug | 835 | bone thug picture | 98 |
bone thug and harmony | 656 | black thug | 88 |
bone thug n harmony lyrics | 508 | lovin thug | 83 |
dollz thug | 432 | bone thug n harmony pic | 82 |
bone thug lyrics | 397 | chat thug | 82 |
mo thug | 345 | bone thug pic | 77 |
thug holiday | 339 | love thug | 74 |
builder thug | 272 | lyrics mansion thug | 71 |
doll thug | 265 | bone harmony.com n thug | 70 |
builder outwar thug | 257 | maker thug | 67 |
mansion thug | 190 | love lyrics thug | 65 |
bone thug in harmony | 172 | lyrics notorious thug | 55 |
cartoon doll thug | 164 | mo movement thug | 54 |
doll maker thug | 158 | califa thug | 54 |
thug life | 158 | lyrics mo thug | 50 |
gay thug | 154 | cartoon dollz thug | 46 |
bone harmony lyrics thug | 150 | girl thug | 45 |
bone thug n harmony picture | 150 | picture thug | 45 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "thug"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | rrugaç (Barker, guttersnipe, hoodlum, hooligan, larrikin, rough, vagrant, whelp, yob, yobbo), bandit (bandit, brigand, gangster, gorilla, gun, gunman, mosstrooper, outlaw, picaroon, reaver, reiver, rover, thief). (various references) | |
Arabic | قاطع طريق (bandit, brigand, gangster, mugger), سفاك (murderer), سفاح (atrocious, bloodthirsty, gorilla, hoodlum, hooligan, killer, mug, slaughterer), عصابة قطاع طرق, السفاك (assassin, butcher). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | гангстер (gangster, goon, gunman, henchman, highbinder, hood, hoodlum, mobster, plug ugly), главорез (butcher, cutthroat, gorilla, ruffian). (various references) | |
Chinese | 暴' , 恶棍 (Villain). (various references) | |
Czech | vrah (assassin, cutthroat, homicide, murderer, slaughterer, slayer), rváè (bruiser, goon, rowdy, ruffian, tiger), násilník (bully, bullyboy, mugger, rapist, rough), lupiè (burglar, freebooter, harpy, hold-up-man, plunderer, raider, robber), hrdlořez (butcher, cutthroat, hoodlum). (various references) | |
Farsi | قاتل (Assassin, Bane, Cutthroat, Deadly, Killer, Murderer, Slayer), گردن کلفت (Bully, Dumpy, Roughneck, Ruffian, Stodgy), ادم کش , بی شرف (Blackguardly). (various references) | |
French | voyou, gangster, criminel, casseur. (various references) | |
German | Verbrecher (convict, criminal, criminals, felon, felons, gangster, malefactor, perpetrator, villain), Strolch (hoodlum, rascal, rogue, vagabond). (various references) | |
Greek | κακούργοσ (criminal, desperado, felon, racketeer, ruffian, ruffianly, yegg), φονεύσ (killer, murderer, slayer), αντεροβγάλτησ (ripper). (various references) | |
Hebrew | פושע אלים, בריון (bully, hoodlum, hooligan, outlaw, plug ugly, punk, rebel, ruffian, tearaway, terrorist). (various references) | |
Hungarian | orgyilkos (assassin, cutthroat, desperado), gengszter (gangster, hijacker, hood, hoodlum, mobster, plug ugly, racketeer). (various references) | |
Indonesian | centeng (guard, hired thug, hit man, watchman). (various references) | |
Italian | teppista (hoodlum, hooligan, roughneck, rowdy), facinoroso (ruffian). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 乱暴者 (hooligan). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ら"ぼうもの (hooligan). (various references) | |
Korean | 자갹. (various references) | |
Manx | thug. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ugthay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | rufião (ruffian), matador (matador), bandido (bravo, desperado, gangster, hoodlum, outlaw, robber, ruffian), assassino (assassin, cutthroat, felon, goon, homicide, killer, killing, murderer, murderous, slayer). (various references) | |
Romanian | ucigaş (assassin, bloodthirsty, bravo, choker, cut throat, deadly, fatal, felon, homicidal, homicide, killer, murderer, murderous, sanguinary), asasin (assassin, cut throat, homicide, killer, murderer). (various references) | |
Russian | убийца (assassin, assissin, basher, gorilla, homicide, killer, knifeman, murderer, murderess, slayer), громила (hoodlum), головорез (bad man, cutthroat, cut-throat, desperado, ruffian, swashbuckler, swasher). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | davilac (choker). (various references) | |
Spanish | gamberro (hellion, hobbledehoy, hooligan, riff raff, ruffian, thuggish, yob). (various references) | |
Swedish | bandit (bandit, desperado, gun, gunman). (various references) | |
Thai | คนโห"ร้าย. (various references) | |
Turkish | katil (assassin, cutthroat, homicide, killer, murderer, murderess, slaughterer, slayer, Thumper), haydut (bandit, brigand, filibuster, footpad, gangster, hoodlum, little perisher, mobster, mugger, outlaw, plugugly, robber), eşkıya (bandit, brigand, highwayman, mug). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | убивця (basher, cutthroat, homicide, killer, murderer, slayer), убивати (deaden, finish off, homicide, kill, murder, pick off, put to death, slay). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | du côn (corner-boy, hooligan), côn đ" (rascally, villain, villainous), ác ôn. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Sanskrit | 300 BCE-Modern | sthaga-s. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "thug": thuggee, thuggees, thuggeries, thuggery, thuggish, thugs. (additional references) | |
| |
"Thug" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Ntahuga, phug, thag, theg, thegm, therg, thge, thieg, thig, thige, thiog, thog, thogh, thoug, thu, thub, Thuc, thue, thuf, thuge, thuggy, Thuja, thul, thum, thun, thung, thuo, thup, thur, thuz, tju, toug, tsu, tugi, tugo, tugy, tuh, tuht, tuo. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "thug" (pronounced thu"g) |
| 2 | -u" g | antidrug, bug, chug, debug, drug, dug, hug, jug, lug, mug, plug, rug, shrug, slug, smug, snug, tug, ugh, unplug. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "g-h-t-u" | |
-1 letter: gut, hug, hut, tug, ugh. | |
-2 letters: uh, ut. | |
| Words containing the letters "g-h-t-u" | |
+1 letter: aught, ghaut, ought, teugh, thugs, tough. | |
+2 letters: aughts, bought, caught, dought, fought, ghauts, grutch, hagbut, hognut, hugest, naught, nought, oughts, sought, taught, though, toughs, toughy, trough, waught. | |
+3 letters: abought, brought, chuting, claught, doughty, draught, drought, fraught, gunshot, hagbuts, hangout, haughty, hindgut, hognuts, hunting, hurting, hutting, mugshot, naughts, naughty, noughts, oughted, outgush, paughty, shotgun, shuting, teughly, theurgy, thought, thouing, through, thuggee, toughed, toughen, tougher, toughie, toughly, troughs, tughrik, tushing, unsight, uplight, upright, uptight, waughts, wrought, yoghurt. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
