Definition of tsotsi in English:
tsotsi
nounPlural tsotsis ˈtsɒtsi
South African 1A young black urban criminal.
Example sentencesExamples
- He approached several black policemen (who were unarmed until the 1980s) who, when they spotted the tsotsis, starting running.
- He remembers walking in downtown Joburg when, turning around, he noticed he was being followed by some tsotsis.
- Some writers describe situations where paranoid fears of crime and violence are dissolved by friendly warmth and wry smiles of supposed tsotsis instead.
- Even the tsotsis, the unkempt street ruffians of the 1930s, began to embrace the quest for style in the 1950s.
- These aims were not realized: high unemployment persisted; urban gangs such as the tsotsis and the Russians, as well as delinquency, flourished.
- 1.1historical A young black gangster belonging to a group prominent in the 1940s and 1950s, affecting a special language and flashy dress.
Origin
1940s: said to be a Sotho corruption of zoot suit.