ÃÂavuà Â, also anglicized Chaush and Chiaus (from / ; ; from Old Turkic ÃÂabuà  or ÃÂawuà Â, "person who gives order or yells") was an Ottoman title used for two separate soldier professions, both acting as messengers although differing in levels. It was a rank below agha and kethüda (from Persian, kad-khuda, "magistrate"), in units such as the Janissaries and Sipahi, and was also a term for members of the specialized unit of çavuà ÂÃÂn (, also çavuà Âiyye, çavuà Â(an)-i divan(i)) consisting of combined cavalry and infantry serving the Imperial Council (as in Ottoman Egypt). The leaders of the council's çavuà  were titled çavuà Âbaà Âñ / (or baà Âçavuà  / ). The çavuà Âbaà Âñ was an assistant (or deputy) to the Grand Vizier, dealing with security matters, accompanying ambassadors visiting the Grand Vizier, and also carried out the first examination of petitions submitted to the council, and led council meetings when the Grand Vizier was not present. The title has its origin in Uyghur use, where it was the title of ambassadors, and then entered Seljuq use for Byzantine imperial messengers, and Persian and Arabic use for various court attendants.
The word gave rise to surnames, such as ÃÂavuà  (Turkish), ÃÂavuà ÂoÃÂlu (Turkish), ÃÂauà ¡evià(Serbo-Croatian), ÃÂauà ¡ià(Serbo-Croatian), Baà ¡ÃÂauà ¡evià(Serbo-Croatian), ÃÂaushaj (Albanian), CeauÃÂu (Romanian), CeauÃÂescu (Romanian), äÃÂñÿÃÂÃÂֈ(Tsaousis in Greek), and others. It is also the stem of place names, such as ÃÂavuà  (in Turkey), ÃÂavuà Âlu (in Turkey), ÃÂavuà Âlar (in Turkey), ÃÂavuà Âköy (in Turkey), ÃÂavuà Âbayñrñ (in Turkey), ÃÂauà ¡evac (in Bosnia), ÃÂauà ¡eviÃÂi (one village in Bosnia and one village in Serbia), ÃÂauà ¡ev Do (in Bosnia), ÃÂauà ¡evina (in Bosnia), ÃÂauà ¡lije (in Bosnia), ÃÂauà ¡lija (in Macedonia), Chavusy (in Belarus), ÃÂaushi (in Albania), and others. In the past in former Yugoslavia, the word ÃÂauà ¡ was also sometimes applied to the wedding-planner.
In the modern Turkish Armed Forces, the rank of is roughly equivalent of "corporal" and ranks above the rank of ("private first class").
also serves as the root word for the rest of the non-commissioned officer rank names.