sirdar

[ ser-dahr ]

/ sərˈdɑr /

(in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan) a military chief or leader.

(formerly) the British commander of the Egyptian army.

Origin of sirdar

1605–15; < Hindi sardār < Persian

At the conclusion, General Hunter and the other officers shook hands with the Sirdar, one by one.

With Kitchener in the Soudan |G. A. Henty
The Sirdar sent a peremptory order, without a word of explanation, for that cleric to embark forthwith and return to Cairo.

Khartoum Campaign, 1898 |Bennet Burleigh
All this with the shadow of the Sirdar pointing towards them—to fall even sooner than the officers perchance anticipated.

Fifty-One Years of Victorian Life |Margaret Elizabeth Leigh Child-Villiers, Countess of Jersey
The Sirdar conversed with the prisoner, and a fruitless effort was made to find the jailer and have Neufeld's irons removed.

Khartoum Campaign, 1898 |Bennet Burleigh

The odds would be too heavy, and the Sirdar is not a man to risk failure.

With Kitchener in the Soudan |G. A. Henty

sirdar

/ (ˈsɜːdɑː) /

a general or military leader in Pakistan and India

(formerly) the title of the British commander in chief of the Egyptian Army

a variant spelling of sardar

from Hindi sardār, from Persian, from sar head + dār possession