An alternative spelling of ghaffir; a watchman, guard, or sentinel in Middle Eastern and North African contexts, especially someone hired to protect property.
From Arabic ghafir (غفير), an alternate transliteration of the same word as ghaffir. Both forms come from the Arabic root meaning 'to guard' or 'protect.' The variant spelling reflects different transliteration systems for Arabic.
Different transliterations of the same Arabic word show how English speakers couldn't agree on how to spell borrowed words—ghafir and ghaffir are the same job, just spelled two different ways depending on who was writing!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.