Sardar (Persian: سردار, romanized: Sardâr, pronounced [sæɹˈdɒːɹ]; lit. 'commander, headmaster') is a title of royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, kings, and other aristocrats. It has also been used to denote a chief or leader of a tribe or group. It is used as a Persian synonym of the title Emir of Arabic origin.
The term and its cognates originate from Persian sardār (سردار) and have been historically used across Persia (Iran), the Ottoman Empire and Turkey (as "Serdar"), Afghanistan (as "Sardar" for a member of the royal Mohammadzai clan in meaning of noblemen), Mesopotamia (now Iraq), Syria, South Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Nepal), Central Asia (in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as "Sardor"), the Caucasus, the Balkans, and Egypt (as "Sirdar").
