Borrowed from Hindi and/or Buemese, a member of a robbing gang, a brigand…
[SIZE=6]Definition of dacoit[/SIZE]
plural -s : one of a class of criminals in India and Burma who rob and murder in roving gangs
bonus related word…
thug
θʌɡ/ noun
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[li]1.[/li]a violent person, especially a criminal.
“he was attacked by a gang of thugs”
synonyms:ruffian, hoodlum, bully boy, bully, bandit, mugger, gangster, terrorist, gunman, murderer, killer, hitman, assassin, hooligan, vandal, Yardie; More
[li]2.[/li]historical
a member of an organization of robbers and assassins in India. Devotees of the goddess Kali, the Thugs waylaid and strangled their victims, usually travellers, in a ritually prescribed manner. They were suppressed by the British in the 1830s.
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[SIZE=6]Definition of thuggee[/SIZE]
plural -s : murder and robbery by thugs
Thuggees, a Sanskrit word meaning concealment, were an organized gang of professional assassins – sometimes described as the world’s first mafia – who operated from the 13th to the 19th centuries in India. Members of the fanatical religious group, who were infamous for their ritualistic assassinations carried out in the name of the Hindu Goddess Kali, were known as Thugs, a word that passed into common English during the British occupation of India.