cossack
Cos·sack/ˈkɑsˌæk/noun
cossack is a noun meaning “Alternative letter-case form of Cossack” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled C-O-S-S-A-C-K and has 2 syllables (Cos·sack), and it appears about once in every 2 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of cossack is cossacks.
What does cossack mean?
noun
- 1
Alternative letter-case form of Cossack.
noun
- 1
A member or descendant of an originally (semi-)nomadic population of Eastern Europe and the adjacent parts of Asia, formed in part of runaways from neighbouring countries, that eventually settled in parts of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Russian tsarist Empire and constituted a military caste, particularly in areas now comprising southern Russia and Ukraine.
- 2
A member of a military unit (typically cavalry, originally recruited exclusively from the above).
- 3
obsoleteA Ukrainian.
- 4
derogatoryA mercenary, a violent thug: a regular or irregular soldier, police officer or security guard employed to persecute or oppress disfavoured groups, such as Jews or (striking) workers.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce cossack?
- UK /ˈkɒsˌæk/
- US /ˈkɑsˌæk/
- US /ˈkɔsˌæk/
Cossack has 2 syllables, split Cos·sack in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Cossack.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of cossack
- kozak
- cossacks plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is cossack?
Cossack appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,998th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Cossack in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does cossack come from?
From Middle French cosaque, from Middle Polish Kozak, from Middle Ukrainian коза́къ (kozák), from Kipchak *qazaq (whence Armeno-Kipchak խազախ (xazax)), from Old Turkic 𐰴𐰔𐰍𐰸 (*qazǧaq, “profiteer”), from 𐰴𐰔𐰍𐰣𐰢𐰴 (qazǧanmaq, “to acquire”), from 𐰴𐰔𐰢𐰴 (qazmaq, “to dig out”), from Proto-Turkic *kaŕ-. Doublet of Kazakh. First appears c. 1587 in the writings of George Turberville.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).