dervish
/ˈdɜːvɪʃ/noun
dervish is spelled D-E-R-V-I-S-H: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 59,387th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, dervish means “A citizen or inhabitant of Darawiish (circa 1895–1920 C.E.), an anti-colonial polity in modern Somalia headed by Sufis” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of dervish is dervishes.
How many letters and syllables are in dervish?
| Letters | 7: D-E-R-V-I-S-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 59,387th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is dervish?
Dervish appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 59,387th 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).
How do you pronounce dervish?
- UK /ˈdɜːvɪʃ/
Dervish has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Dervish.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-dervish.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of dervish
- dervishes plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does dervish mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A citizen or inhabitant of Darawiish (circa 1895–1920 C.E.), an anti-colonial polity in modern Somalia headed by Sufis.
- 2
One of the followers of Muhammad Ahmad, the Mahdi of the Sudan, in the 1880s.
- 3
Any irregular guerrilla fighter resembling the Sudanese Mahdi in equipment, uniform, tactics, etc.
noun
- 1
A member of a Sufi Muslim ascetic fraternity of mendicant friars.
- 2
A citizen or inhabitant of the Taleh-based Darawiish (circa 1895–1920 C.E.), the polity territorially coterminous with modern Waqooyi Bari.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Dervish in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense a Sufi Muslim ascetic fraternity:
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 dervish come from?
From Ottoman Turkish درویش (derviş), from Persian درویش (darvêš, “poor; Sufi mystic”), from Middle Persian dlgwš (driyōš, “poor, needy”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *drigu-, cognate with Sanskrit ध्रिगु (dhrigu, “needy”) and Avestan 𐬛𐬭𐬌𐬔𐬎 (driguš).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).