Çavu

Çavu is a term that does not have a standalone, widely recognized meaning in standard Turkish. It is most commonly encountered as a misspelling or variant of the Turkish military rank çavuş, which means sergeant. In standard Turkish usage, the form çavu is not attested as an independent word in formal dictionaries, and readers should interpret it as a potential orthographic simplification of çavuş.

Çavuş denotes a non-commissioned officer in the Ottoman army and in modern Turkish armed forces. Historically and in contemporary practice, a çavuş would typically operate as a junior NCO responsible for leading a small unit, relaying orders, supervising soldiers, guarding posts, and assisting in disciplinarian tasks. The rank sits between ordinary soldiers and commissioned officers within the military hierarchy and has appeared in a wide range of military, police, and administrative contexts in Turkish history.

Linguistic notes indicate that çavuş is of Turkic origin with possible influence from Persian, reflecting the diverse etymology of Ottoman military terminology. The orthography of the word in standard Turkish includes the final letter ș, and altering or dropping this final character is common in transliteration or informal writing. As a result, çavu is typically treated as a spelling variant rather than a distinct term in scholarly or formal contexts.

In usage, when çavu appears in texts, it is generally read as çavuş, especially in historical documents, military records, and contemporary Turkish writing. For related terminology, see Çavuş (rank).