khaki
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: note: Indic
ipa: /xɑki/
note: Indic
ipa: /kʰɑki/
enpr: kä-k'ē
ipa: /ˈkɑː.ki/
enpr: kă-k'ē
ipa: /ˈkæ.ki/
enpr: kär-k'ē
enpr: kä-k'ē
enpr: kă-k'ē
ipa: /ˈkɑɹ.ki/
ipa: /ˈkɑː.ki/
ipa: /ˈkæki/
homophone: cocky (some accents with the father-bother merger)
rhymes: -ɑːki
rhymes: -æki
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)ki
Forms: form: khakis
form: khakies
form: carkee
form: carky
form: karkey
form: khakee
form: kharkee
form: kharki
Etymology: Borrowed from Hindustani خاکی (xākī) / ख़ाकी (xākī), from Classical Persian خَاکِی (xākī, “dusty, earthy, earth-colored”).
Sense 5 was coined in reference to the colour of the uniform of British troops during the Second Boer War; compare rooinek.
Senses: examples: text: When you've shouted "Rule Britannia", when you've sung "God Save The Queen",
When you've finished killing Kruger with your mouth;
Will you kindly drop a shilling in my little tambourine
For a gentleman in khaki ordered South?
ref: 1899, Rudyard Kipling, The Absent-Minded Beggar:
text: But being the right shade of khaki or shit-brown is not enough.
ref: 1980, Bill Oddie, Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book, page 60:
glosses: A dull, yellowish-brown colour, the colour of dust.
examples: text: 1921, War work of the Bureau of Standards, no. 46, page 54.
The English Government for a long time has used a type of pigmented dope cover, khaki colored by iron pigments and lampblack, which is called P. C. 10.
text: 2007, Yuji Matsuki, American Fighters Over Europe: Colors & Markings of USAAF Fighters in WWII, page 4, →ISBN.
At the end of World War I, the U.S. Army Air Service painted everything khaki. This khaki was practically the same as British PC10 and can be considered the basis of the later olive drab color.
text: In these notes we have used the British rather than the US terms for colours: i.e. 'khaki' here means the drab brown - US 'olive drab' - used for woolen uniforms and 'khaki drill' for the pale yellowish tan - US 'khaki' - used for lightweight summer/tropical dress.
ref: 2010, Martin Windrow, French Foreign Legion: Infantry and Cavalry since 1945, →ISBN, page 52:
text: The very loose seroual trousers were made in both sand-khaki drill, and in winter-weight khaki wool for wear with the M1946 battledress blouse.
ref: Op. cit., page 56
glosses: Khaki green, a dull green colour.
glosses: A strong cloth of wool or cotton, often used for military or other uniforms.
glosses: A soldier wearing a khaki uniform.
examples: text: "Frank, it's a khaki," I whisper, "keep straight on."
ref: 1902, Philip Pienaar, With Steyn And De Wet, Methuen:
text: War and then victory raised patriotic sentiment inside Britain and brought the Colonial Secretary national popularity. Unionists were quick to milk this with a 'khaki' election in 1900 at which they won a massive landslide.
ref: 1997, Richard N. Kelly, John Cantrell, Modern British Statesmen, 1867-1945, page 90:
glosses: A British person.
examples: 1915 Out West magazine
The porter in going through the rear coach, which was almost empty, noticed one of the occupants, a muscular, soldierly man in khakies to be apparently asleep in his seat.
glosses: Khaki clothing or uniform.
Derived terms: Khaki Campbell
khaki drill
khakied
khaki election
khaki-green
khakistocracy
khakiweed