لوطی

The لوطی emerged in Qajar-era Iran as a distinct urban archetype, the bazaar tough who would never steal from the poor, would defend strangers, and would die before breaking his word. Persian cinema, especially the films of Naser Malek-Motie'i, immortalized the لوطی in mid-century. The word has somewhat narrowed in modern usage but still evokes a rough nobility, what Italians might recognize in the man-of-honor figures of southern cinema. Sometimes also pejorative for "rough, unrefined."