lathi

English

A group of police with wooden and plastic lathi in Panaji, Gao, India.

A drawing from 1908 of a police officer with a lathi on his belt in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

Etymology

Borrowed from Hindi लाठी (lāṭhī).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /lʌˈtiː/

Noun

lathi (countable and uncountable, plural lathis)

1. (India, countable) A heavy stick or club, usually used by policemen.
   • 1973, JG Farrell, The Siege of Krishnapur:

     The iron-bound bamboo staves, known as lâtees, with which most disputes among rival zemindars were traditionally settled.

   • 2004, Khushwant Singh, Burial at Sea, Penguin, published 2014, page 131:

     A phalanx of policemen armed with lathis faced a mob of mill workers squatting on the road.

   • 2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin, published 2015, page 94:

     Nearby, held back by a line of lathi-carrying peons, stood the farmers whose vessels were being weighed […].

2. (uncountable) A martial art based on stick fighting originally practiced in India.

   Lathi shares its basic principles with other martial arts.

Alternative forms

• lattee, latti (archaic)

Derived terms

• lathicharge

References

• “lathi”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Anagrams

• Lahti, Litha, laith, tahil, tahli, thali, thial