Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A gratuity, tip, or bribe paid to expedite service, especially in the Near East.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A relatively small amount of money given for services rendered (as by a waiter). Same as backsheesh.
  • noun Same as backsheesh.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun business, ethics In the Middle East, southwest Asia and Eastern Europe, a bribe or tip paid to speed up services.
  • verb To bribe with a baksheesh.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a relatively small amount of money given for services rendered (as by a waiter)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Persian bakhshish, present, from Middle Persian bakhshishn, from bakhshīdan, bakhsh-, to give presents, from Avestan bakhsh-; see bhag- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Turkish bahşiş, from Persian بخشیش (bakhšīš, "present; an honorary or pecuniary gratuity; drink-money") or بخشش (bakhšiš), from بخشیدن (bakhšīdan, "to give, grant, bestow").

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