Bandit

How to spell bandit

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce bandit

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does bandit mean?

1. nounA robber or outlaw, especially one who attacks travellers or belongs to an armed gang.

Bandit in a sentence

• The lone bandit held up the coach on the mountain road.

• Police arrested the masked bandit outside the bank.

Where does bandit come from?

Language of origin: Italian

This word came into English around the late 1500s from the Italian bandito, which literally meant 'banished man' or 'outlaw'. Bandito was the past participle of the verb bandire, meaning 'to ban, proscribe, or outlaw', and that verb traces back to a Germanic root connected to the idea of a public proclamation or 'ban' against someone. In other words, a bandit was originally not just a robber but a person formally declared an outlaw and driven out of the community. English first borrowed the Italian plural form banditti for groups of armed brigands roaming the countryside, and the singular 'bandit' settled in afterwards. The same old 'ban' root that means a binding order also gives us the everyday English word 'ban', which is a useful reminder that the spelling keeps the plain b-a-n before the -dit ending.

How the word is built

• bandit (from Italian bandito: banished, outlawed)
• (the -t reflects the Italian past participle ending)