Combat of the Giaour and the Pasha by Eugène Delacroix (1827, oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago). Inspired by Lord Byron's poem The Giaour.

Giaour, Gawur or Ghiaour written gâvur in modern Turkish, is an offensive ethnic slur used by Turkish people to describe all who are non Muslim, with particular reference to Christians like Greeks[1][2], Armenians, Bulgarians (Гяур), Serbs (Kaurin)[3] and Assyrians.

The word is a Turkish adaptation of the Persian gdwr or gbr, an infidel. The term was first employed as a term of contempt and reproach, but has become so general that in most cases its use is only mildly pejorative. A similar fate happened to the Arabic equivalent kaffir, or unbeliever, which was so widespread that it became the proper name of various peoples and countries (see Kaffir).

• Turkish: gâvur
• Serbian: Kaurin (Каурин)
• Bulgarian: Gyaur (Гяур)
• Albanian: Kaurr
• Romanian: Ghiaur
• Greek: Giaouris (γκιαούρης)

See also

• The Giaour, a poem by Lord Byron

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.