dasturi

From Hindustani دستوری / दस्तूरी (dastūrī), from Classical Persian دستوری (dasturi).

In all dealings between natives there is invariably a species of extortion, a sort of dustoory, which is given in all money transactions.

1832 February, Langford Kennedy, Minutes of Evidence Taken Before the Select Committee on the Affairs of the East India Company, volume III,25:

By dint of much pleading and cajolery they persuaded the old zemindar to add their money to the sums that he annually deposited with Mr Burnham: for this privilege they were content to pay the Halder estate a ten-percent dasturi on the profits […].

2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin, published 2015, page 85:

(India) A commission or duty charged by an agent; a kickback.


kandhuli

Borrowed from Assamese কান্ধুলি (kandhuli).

bor+

In Assam, for instance, a mild curry made with a fish called kandhuli together with a duck egg is given to someone suffering from measles or chicken pox […].

1998, Harlan Walker, Fish: Food from the Waters, page 255:

Awash in its fragrance, like a kandhuli fish rippling in a pond and making liquid motifs of rings and bangles, her head grew giddier and her heart beat faster.

2015, Arupa Patangia Kalita, translated by Ranjita Biswas, Written in Tears, Harper Perennial, page 1:

(India) The bronze featherback, Notopterus notopterus.


jetuka

The leaves of the Jetuka shrub give a red juice when crushed.

1949, The Eastern Anthropologist, volume 3, page 74:

It is a pleasant sight to see a young girl with her blackened teeth, her palms reddened with the juice of jetuka leaves, her head bedecked with orchid, swaying her figure gracefully and singing erotic quatrains […].

1965, Praphulladatta Goswami, Folk-literature of Assam, page 8:

Her palms, decorated with jetuka, picked up the grains.

2015, Arupa Patangia Kalita, translated by Ranjita Biswas, Written in Tears, Harper Perennial, page 2:

Lawsonia inermis
Lawsonia inermis#Translingual

(India) Henna (Lawsonia inermis), as used in Assam.


jhow

Borrowed from Hindi झाऊ (jhāū), from Sanskrit झावु (jhāvu).

The river remains most uninteresting: the banks are low and covered chiefly with Jhow.

1847, William Griffith, Journals of travels in Assam, Burma, Bootan, Affghanistan and the Neighbouring Countries, page 318:

It is very abundant in Bengal, in many parts near the foot of the Himalayas, in Deyra Doon, and near the Ganges, Jumna, Sutlej, and other large rivers, frequenting chiefly long grass and jhow jungle.

1984, Thomas Claverhill Jerdon, A Handbook of the Mammals of India, page 263:

If you asked her where she learnt them, she would only laugh, her body shaking with laughter like jhow grass swaying in the wind.

2015, Arupa Patangia Kalita, translated by Ranjita Biswas, Written in Tears, Harper Perennial, page 53:

(East India) A species of grassy tamarisk shrub, Tamarix indica, common in river-marshes.


13th month

/θɜːˌtiːnθ ˈmʌnθ/

/ˌθɝ.tɪnθ ˈmɒnθ/

A fixed 13th Month Payment is introduced, freezing all previous bonus payments and is payable on the following basis: (a) where bonus of one month’s pay or more was paid in respect of the last three annual bonus payments, the 13th Month Payment shall be equivalent to the average of bonuses paid in the last three years or the last annual bonus paid, whichever is higher, subject to a maximum of three months’ pay.

1972 April 29, The Straits Times: Two Choices for Employers, page 1:

An ANZUK spokesman last night said the decision to pay civilian employees a 13th month payment (cost: about $1 million) was approved by the Australian government early this year to be in line with the Singapore Government’s policy.

1972 December 21, The Straits Times: ANZUK’s Civilians to get 13-month pay, page 12:

According to sources, circulars have been sent to all officers informing them that their 13th month pay will include the National Wages Council recommendations for wage increase for last year and this year

1974 November 4, New Nation: An extra month…, page 3:

In this cost cutting era [...] many banks do not even give out 13th months.

2013, “Saving $100k by the time you are 30 years old”, in Investment Moats, retrieved 2015-11-03:

The Annual Wage Supplement is also known as the 13th month bonus which you will receive in addition of your December’s salary.

2014 December 31, Goodbye 2014, Hello 13th Month Bonus?:

(Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Nepal, China, Taiwan, South Africa, Nigeria, Mexico, Israel, some other countries, generally attributive) a one-month (or more) bonus paid to employees at the end of the financial year.

some other countries; generally attributive; some other countries; generally attributive


shareef

en-adj

shareef (comparative more shareef, superlative most shareef)

more shareef (comparative)
most shareef (superlative)

From Hindi शरीफ़ (śarīf)/Urdu شریف, from Arabic شَرِيف (šarīf).

Sling bags are another variety that have caught the fancy of DU students because of their sheer style. "They come in so many designs and sizes. The big ones make you look like a very shareef student, which is a good thing sometimes..."

2011 June 27, Muskaan Tandon, “DU's bagging it”, in The Times of India:

(India) meek, gentle, gentlemanly, upstanding, innocent


gori mem

From Hindi गोरी मेम (gorī mem), from गोरी (gorī, “fair, white skinned”) + मेम (mem), from English ma'am.

At forty he had finally realized a childhood fantasy—to fuck a white woman, a gori mem.

2004, Khushwant Singh, Burial at Sea, Penguin, published 2014, page 12:

Dark skinned as he was, he was most likely to be slighted and thrown out by that gori mem.

2010, Govinda Miśra, translated by Masooma Ali, The House with Five Courtyards, Penguin, page 211:

In the past, parents were concerned about getting a gori mem as a daughter-in-law, but I am modern.

2013, Eric J Lott, Life in a Cubicle, page 189:


suo motu

(law, India, Pakistan) Synonym of sua sponte


accredition

en-noun

accredition (countable and uncountable, plural accreditions)

(chiefly India) The giving of credentials.


dharmsala

From Hindi धर्मशाला (dharmaśālā), from Sanskrit.

The corridor was paved and wayfarers used it as a dharamshala.

2015, Tridip Suhrud, translating Govardhanram Madhavram Tripathi, Sarasvatichandra I, Orient BlackSwan 2015, p. 2

(historical, India) A charitable or religious house, especially a resthouse for travellers.


bibiji

(India) grandmother (as a respectful term of address)


discom

(India) Acronym of distribution company. especially an electricity distribution company


bhagwaan

(India, Hinduism) a Hindu deity, such as Rama or Krishna.

(India, Hinduism) a saint or a holy man.


black money

In India, the government faces the issue of combating black money stashed overseas.

Demonetization — or the withdrawal from use — was one of a package of measures recommended by a Government committee that investigated the problem of “black money” — money acquired through illegal transactions and kept hidden from tax authorities.

1973 August 9, “Demonetization Feared”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Mr Modi has implemented a flurry of schemes to flush out “black money”, the term Indians use for cash which is both unaccounted for and outside its formal financial system.

2016 November 10, “Taking notes”, in The Economist, →ISSN:

(India) Money that is obtained illegally, especially that which circulates outside the formal financial system in the underworld.


cinegoer

This article deals with the comparative psychology of the cinegoer and the televiewer.

1991, Jacques Kermabon, Kumar Shahani, Cinema And Televisions, →ISBN, page 87:


tampala

Amaranthus tricolor
Amaranthus tricolor#Translingual

(India) The plant Amaranthus tricolor when used as a vegetable.


jassendar

(India, historical) A person employed to sort cloth made by weavers based on its quality.


bhaigan

bhaigan (usually uncountable, plural bhaigans)

Admitting to stealing the vegetables, Mohammed said, “Boss ah tief the thing, but not me alone.” The bhaigans were valued $100.

2015 February 7, Azard Ali, “Mother put on a bond for stealing bhaigans”, in Trinidad and Tobago Newsday:

(India, Trinidad and Tobago, cooking) brinjal, eggplant, aubergine


sahibji

(India) sahib (as a respectful term of address)


IITian

(India) An alum of one of the Indian Institutes of Technology.


rajmata

Nonetheless, for many years afterward, she was often referred to as maharani, though that eventually gave way to the less glamorous but more respectful title of rajmata, the equivalent of queen mother.

2009 July 31, Bruce Weber, “Gayatri Devi, 90, a Maharani and a Lawmaker, Dies”, in New York Times:


talab

Borrowed from Hindi तालाब (tālāb), from Persian تالاب (tâlâb).

Harish, whose foundation provides villages with some of the building costs for tankas and talabs, grins as she relates the story.

2009 September 13, Rick Westhead, “India: Will the tap run dry?”, in Toronto Star:

(Middle East, India, Pakistan) A pond for harvesting rainwater.


jampani

(India, chiefly historical) A jampan-bearer.


jampan

At a hill-station ladies are carried in jampans, which are open doolies.

1887, John Cookson Fife-Cookson, Tiger-Shooting in the Doon and Ulwar..., page 139:

(India, chiefly historical) Synonym of dandy or tonjon, a kind of open sedan chair, particularly one with its main pole suspended from smaller poles borne on the shoulders of two pairs of porters.


congi

From Congress, short for Indian National Congress, a major political party in India.

In the latest cyber strike by the anti-Congress camp, "Congi", a twitterverse term for Congress supporters, now has a detailed (and abusive) definition on Urban Dictionary - an online trove of popular slang.

(India, slang, politics, derogatory) An ardent supporter of the Indian National Congress.

(India, slang, politics, derogatory) A liberal or a leftist, accused of opposing India, Hinduism, or Hindu nationalism.


kokama

Kokama or amsul is the pulp of the fruit cleared of the seeds and dried in the sun and slightly salted. It is of a black colour and an oval shape. The epidermis is wrinkled. At the base of kokama the calyx and the remainder of the stalk are often seen.

1903, Rustomjee Naserwanjee Khory, Nanabhai Navrosji Katrak, Materia medica of India and their therapeutics, page 80:

Kokum, Ratdmbi, the fruit kokama, amasula, brinddo, Bom. ; Brindao, Goa.

1883, Sir George Watt, Economic Products of India Exhibited at the Calcutta International Exhibition, 1883-84:


rat flood

(India) A large invasion of black rats caused by the flowering of the bamboo Melocanna baccifera every 48 years in parts of India.


history-sheeter

(India) A person with a criminal record, especially an extensive one.


manoos

The foster-mother reported this to the Princess, observing that she was afraid to go near to the creature, not knowing whether it might not turn to be a demon, or a Jin, instead of a manoos or human being.

1849, The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia:

It was thus considered disgraceful for the better classes, freemen and Hindoos, to hire them'selves for labour, and they have always avoided being employed as coolies as far as practicable, by pleading their right of “exemption as bhalo manooses or gentlemen."

1860, Calcutta Review - Volume 35, page 52:

I think the party is about to end because the average marathi manoos is not in a mood to tolerate anyone, whether one of their own, or someone thrust on them via Delhi, who continues to give Mumbai such an awful name.

2011, Sunil Sethi, The Big Bookshelf: Sunil Sethi in Conversation with 30 Famous Writers, →ISBN, page 56:

The use of the word 'outsiders' has radically changed the delicate equation between the 'real' Marathi manoos and those who throng to Mumbai in search of jobs.

2015, Shobhaa De, Superstar India: From Incredible to Unstoppable, →ISBN:

Fifty years on, the 'Marathi manoos' whose primacy the Sena and its offshoots seek to protect is imagined above all as an aggrieved petty government official, not a trader, nor an entrepreneur, nor a mill-worker.

2016, Mihir Sharma, Restart: The Last Chance for the Indian Economy, →ISBN:

(India) A man, especially one who is unlucky or who has a tendency to complain.


nurshing

School of Nurshing at INHS ASVINI, Colaba, Bombay.

1994, Indian Trade Journal (volume 349, issues 7-13, page C-416)

The government or private sector hospitals/nurshing homes differ in providing general or specialised services.

2008, M. N. Roy, Management for Doctors - A Holistic Approach, page 90:


dalal

From an Indian language (compare Hindi दलाल (dalāl)), from Arabic دَلَّال (dallāl).


ghiya

I remember that he secretly used to cook aloo ki sabzi when my mom made dal or ghiya, which we hated.

2016 June 18, “I found my lost father in him...”, in The Times of India:

(India) A type of squash (gourd) used in Indian cooking.


heropanti

Who is the better hero and who has more heropanti?

2016 June 19, “Tiger Shroff: My father is the original hero, he doesn’t have to try like me. I fake it.”, in The Times of India:


bhaichara

bor

Hindi भाईचारा (bhāīcārā)

This isn't only because the Punjabi language is difficult to grasp by non-native speakers, but because Jalandhar, where these students live, doesn't exactly have a great reputation for African-Indian bhaichara, much like the rest of India.

2016 May 29, “It’s bhangra and bhaichara for Africans in Punjab”, in The Times of India:


kakdi

Considered one of the best mid-meal snack or finger food in summer, cucumber (kakdi, kheera) is known to flush out toxins from the body.

2016 June 17, “Beat dehydration with these vegetables”, in The Times of India:


autowallah

"I have hired an autowallah, Kulwinder Singh, to drop me to college every day," he says.

(India) driver, chauffeur (especially of an autorickshaw)


kheera

From Persian خیار (xiyâr, “cucumber”), derived from Middle Persian 𐭧𐭩𐭠𐭥 (xyār). Cognate to Sanskrit क्षीरक (kṣīraka).


multistarrer

(India) A film featuring several movie stars.


lathicharge

The alleged desecration of an ancient temple in Jammu triggered violence as protesters from right-wing groups torched vehicles and threw stones at cops who responded with lathicharge and teargas shells late on Tuesday night.

2016 June 18, “Mobile internet services restored in Jammu”, in The Times of India:

(India) The police tactic of charging a crowd with lathis or batons in order to disperse it.


sehar

Food blogger and doctor, Wasim M Mohindeen adds, "I try and stay away from spices during the sehar (the meal before dawn).

2016 June 16, “Fast and feast responsibly this Ramadan!”, in The Times of India:

(India, Islam) Alternative form of suhur


satvik

I was horrified to find out that he enjoys eating satvik food!

2016 June 17, “Perizaad Zorabian on how food rules her life”, in The Times of India:

(India) lactovegetarian (in ayurvedic philosophy)


sainik school

(India) A school that prepares children for a military academy.


kirana

From Hindi किराना (kirānā, “groceries, spices”).

It means the 'nine-day rain' in Khasi," says the appropriately named Barisha, as she restocks the shelves at her kirana store.

2016 June 19, “Why the world's wettest place gets thirsty”, in The Times of India:


samiti

The alleged incident took place at the irrigation department guesthouse in Pehowa where Bedi and chairman of Haryana Staff Selection Commission Bharat Bhushan Bharti had gone to attend meeting related to the elections of block samiti chairman and vice-chairman.

2016 June 19, “Did Bedi beat journo? BJP sets up panel to find out”, in The Times of India:


vastu

From Sanskrit वास्तु (vā́stu, “homestead, house, building”).

der

Very few know that plants also improve the vastu of a place.

2016 June 16, “Grow your own vertical garden at home”, in The Times of India:

(India) A philosophy of architecture that has elements akin to feng shui


shikara

You can also take a shikara to a library right in the heart of the Dal.

2016 June 19, “Cafe culture brews in chinar country”, in The Times of India:

(India, nautical) A type of small wooden boat


chick-blinds

1895, Charlotte Maria Tucker, Letter to Miss 'Leila' Hamilton, in Agnes Giberne, The Life and Letters of Charlotte Maria Tucker, London: Hodder and Stoughton, p. 206, https://books.google.ca/books?id=FbUOAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
I have, however, "chick" blinds to my outer doors; these are made of thin split bamboos; and if I let them down, no one can see in.

Mirza Saeed drew up the chick blinds and fastened their cords.

1988, Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses, Random House, published 2008, Part IV:

A slightly warm breeze came in the window from behind the chick-blinds which the gardener sprayed with water from the hose every fifteen minutes.

2009, Harold Bergsma, chapter 21, in The Opium Eaters, page 151:

(India, Pakistan, Malaysia) A screen or blind made of finely slit bamboo and twine, hung in doorways or windows.


chokra

At the foot of the veranda a chokra lay on his back in the sun, pulling the punkah rope with his heel and shading his face with a broad strip of banana leaf.

1934, George Orwell, chapter 21, in Burmese Days:

'Livin' is cheaper here,' he said. Back home we won't have an ayah or chokra.'

1990, Khushwant Singh, chapter 16, in Delhi, Penguin:


pagri cloth

Pagri-cloth coats are useful in the hot weather

1916, The Royal Engineers Journal, page 237:

1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], “Chapter 14He looked so splendidly manly, with his pagri-cloth shirt open at the throat, and his shorts and puttees and shooting boots!”, in Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC:

As an optional extra you can, if you are a man, buy a length of gaily coloured pagri cloth, pink, red, chocolate or fretted brown or white, and have it wound on your head as a turban in the distinctive Rajput style.

1977, James Elliott, India, London: Batsford, page 191:

(India, textile) A fabric used for turbans and other garments


lavani

WATCH: Sairat fame Rinku Rajguru performs lavani with Madhuri Dixit

2016 June 23, “Bosco Martis and Terence Lewis battle it out for Mouni Roy”, in The Times of India:

(India) A genre of music and dance popular in Maharashtra.


punja

Coordinate term: nanja


incharge

(India) The person who is in charge of something; an employee with responsibility for a department of a company; a manager, supervisor.


poonam

She went on to explain, "Now only old women wear those coarse cotton saris, control cheeralu [cheeralu is the Telugu word for saris]. They are like gunnysacks. Poonams are modern. They are brightly colored and do not fade. But they cling to the body, and you need a separate underskirt and blouse to wear them." Still later she added, "What else will we wear? We work in the field all day -- in the sun, in the rain. Poonams don't tear. They don't fade. They don't crumple. Dirt and mud just wash away. they dry easily."

2003 November, Priti Ramamurthy, “Material Consumers, Fabricating Aubjects: Perplexity, Global Connectivity Discourses, and Transnational Feminist Research”, in Cultural Anthropology:

Egged on by their sisters-in-law, two widows gaily dressed themselves in the polyester saris they were not supposed to wear because poonams are considered too bright, too colorful, too clingy, and, all in all, just too sexy for widows, who are desexualized in the normative gender order.

2013, Wilma Dunaway, Gendered Commodity Chains, →ISBN, page 64:

Shantamma, a Dalit smallholder, once said to me, “People like us, people like you, everyone wears poonams (polyester saris) these days”

2014, Leela Fernandes, Routledge Handbook of Gender in South Asia, →ISBN:

(India) A sari made of imported polyester, as opposed to a traditional cotton sari.


adrak

(India, cooking) Alternative form of adraki (“ginger”)


PPF

Public Provident Fund
w:Public Provident Fund (India)

(India, finance) Initialism of Public Provident Fund.


gubber

(India, historical) A gold ducat or sequin.


filmi geet

en-noun

filmi geet (countable and uncountable, plural filmi geets)

Borrowed from Hindi फ़िल्मी गीत (filmī gīt).

Unlike most filmi geets this song is a continuous, seamless melody which dispenses with non-traditional musical devices.

2003, Ashraf Aziz, Light of the Universe: Essays on Hindustani Film Music, page 91:

(India, music) A type of music typically used in the soundtracks of films from Mumbai, or a particular song of this type.


chandal

bor

Hindi चांडाल (cāṇḍāl)

(India, archaic) Alternative form of chandala.


bajree

(India) Alternative form of bajri (“pearl millet”)


Choppergate

(informal, India) A 2013 controversy around alleged bribery and corruption in the purchase of a fleet of helicopters for Indian state officials.


KL

Kerala (KL) is classified as “high capacity.” In Kerala the grassroots deliberative process was preceded by an important “People's Campaign,” which created effective systems of participatory planning accompanied by significant devolution of funds and power.

1956, Paromita Sanyal, Vijayendra Rao, “Political Construction, State Enactments, and Citizen Performances”, in Oral Democracy: Deliberation in Indian Village Assemblies, Cambridge University Press, published 2018, page 66:


southie

(India, slang, sometimes offensive) Somebody from South India; a Dravidian language speaker.


northie

(India, colloquial) Somebody from the north of India; a northerner.


jhopadpatti

With the population growth in the jhopadpattis, favelas, bastis and bidonvilles higher than any other environment in the world, we are seeing the emergence of Megaslums, where one million urban poor live in an area measuring just 1.5 square miles.

2012, Sarwant Singh, New Mega Trends: Implications for Our Future Lives, page 63:

(India) An urban slum of tents or makeshift huts.


chowkat

Door chowkats shall be with or without wooden sills as ordered.

1963, Tarjit Singh, Practical Book on Sessional and Project Examinations, Specially for Civil Engineering Students:

Where no sill has been provided, the feet of the chowkat shall rest on the damp proof course or floor as the case may be. Where a sill has been provided, the number of hold fasts in the chowkat shall be reduced by two.

1963, Punjab (India) Public Works Dept, Punjab P. W. D. Specifications, 1963, page 459:

Edges, chocks, cleats, etc, shall be deemed to be included in the item. Measured flat (not girthed) including chowkat or frame.

1966, National Buildings Organisation (India), Handbook for building engineers in metric system, page XV-18:

There is a door chowkat with three fair big figures - a "dwarapala" with bow and arrows, a "Pujarini and a dancer at the bottom, and several rows of triple figure representing more or less a Vasudeva one above the other reaching perhaps the lintel, has been preserved by the village in their Namghar (temple), and is being worshipped as the presiding deity of the place.

1984, Readings in the History & Culture of Assam, page 59:

(India) A decorative frame or sill on a door or window.


navaratna

en-noun

navaratna (countable and uncountable, plural navaratnas)

Borrowed from Sanskrit नवरत्न (navaratna) meaning "nine gems".

Other items in the collection include a navaratna (nine gem) pendant or a celestial talisman from Rajasthan. The nine gems when arranged in a certain order are meant to represent the nine planets. Navaratna is popular throughout India, in the form of pendants, rings and other suites.

1998, Tom Flynn, Colonisation and the Object-Empire, Material culture and the Museum:

(India) ruby, emerald, pearl, yellow sapphire, coral, cat's eye, hessonite, blue sapphire and diamond

In later times, some of these men came to be known as Akbar's 'nine gems' or navaratna. One of the most renowned of these navaratnas was a Hindu courtier named Birbal.

2016, Amita Sen, Akbar and Birbal-Tales of Wit and Wisdom:

(India) Nine extraordinary people in an emperor's court.


anicut

Borrowed from Tamil அணைக்கட்டு (aṇaikkaṭṭu, “dam for regulating the flow of an irrigation channel”).

bor

(India) A dam built in a stream for maintaining and regulating irrigation.


central government

en-noun

central government (plural central governments)

(India) The national government of India, in contrast to government at the state or territorial level.


godwoman

(India, colloquial, derogatory) A charismatic female guru.


Henry VIII clause

Henry VIII clause (plural Henry VIII clauses)

Named after English King Henry VIII, who passed the Statute of Proclamations in 1539 that empowered him to legislate by proclamation.

(Australia, India, New Zealand, UK) A provision in a bill before Parliament, that enables the Government to amend the text of the bill once it becomes an Act of Parliament or to repeal the Act using secondary legislation.

Henry VIII clause
Statute of Proclamations


Bidpai

From Sanskrit [Term?], possibly a corruption of विद्यापति (vidyāpati, “Vidyapati”, literally “knowledge-lord”).

Another name made to stand sponsor for fables was Bidpai, said to have been an Oriental philosopher.

1938, Ollie Depew, Children's Literature by Grades and Types, page 31:

Whereupon Bidpai said, 'There is no coin more precious than true friendship: When two hearts united giving each other's inclinations precedence over their own, they are able to face any odds and repulse any foe.'

1999, Rāya Kr̥shṇadāsa (Edward B Eastwick), Anwar-e-Suhaili: Iyar-i-Danish, page 56:

Kalila and Dimna is based on the answers allegedly given to Dabshalim, a king of India, by his vizier, a Brahman philosopher called Bidpai, in the form of fables in which animals act and speak and furnish subtle allusions to human life and experience.

2010, Salma Khadra Jayyusi, Classical Arabic Stories: An Anthology, →ISBN, page 22:

And Bidpai said: the thieves have stormed across the harbor mole, they've broken the ship's mast and plundered its precious cargo, the captain is still searching through the alleys for his old telescope.

2013, Pierre Joris, Habib Tengour, Poems for the Millennium, Volume Four, →ISBN:

(India) A wise philosopher in traditional fables.


gudge

From Hindi गज (gaj). Doublet of guz/gaz.

(obsolete, India) Any of various widely different measures of length.

(historical) A measure of length equivalent to sixteen girah, or approximately one yard.


dafadar

(India, historical) A sergeant in the Indian infantry during the British Raj.


chaukidar

From Hindi चौकीदार (caukīdār), from चौकी (caukī, “post”) + -दार (-dār, “-holder”).

A chowkidar (watchman) was deputed to do justice.

... And tell me do you think it was he himself who impersonated the policeman who so conveniently took over the guarding of the horse when the chowkidar's house was set on fire." "That is the chowkidar guarding the stables?" Ghote asked.

1969, H. R. F. Keating, Inspector Ghote plays a joker:

When he landed the chaukidars or gatekeepers drew their scimitars, thinking that Morgan was a Burmese general coming to Calcutta as a spy.

2020, Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South, William Collins, published 2021, page 21:


kadhi

kadhi (countable and uncountable, plural kadhis)

(India) A curry made from chickpea flour and yoghurt which is served with pakoras.


nanja

Coordinate term: punja


mamaji

(India) mother's brother; maternal uncle


brotherji

(India) brother (as a respectful term of address)


dadaji

(India) father's father; paternal grandfather


nanaji

(India) mother's father; maternal grandfather


BMC

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
w:Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(India) Initialism of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.


chutiya

(India, Pakistan, slang, derogatory) asshole, idiot, stupid person.


gulal

(India, Hinduism) a colored powder often used during the Holi festival.


Mah

From Chinese 馬／马 (Cantonese: maa⁵, Hokkien: Má, Mandarin: Mǎ), or other sources.


UMPP

(India) Initialism of ultra mega power plant.

(India) Initialism of ultra mega power project.


whitemanity

Blend of white man + humanity. Coined in the early 20th century.

(India, informal) Humanity which excludes all people of color (and sometimes all women).


Stepney

* From Old English Stybbanhyð (“Stybba's hithe”), from *Stybba (personal name) + hyþ (“harbour; landing-place; hithe”).
* (spare wheel): Originally a brand name, from the Stepney Spare Motor Wheel company.


chik

(India, Pakistan) Alternative form of chick (“window blind or door screen”)


Maggi

en-noun

Maggi (countable and uncountable, plural Maggis)

Genericized from the name of the company and product, which was named after Swiss entrepreneur Julius Maggi.

named-after

“So, how was your day?”“Good”, [Ada] said, “I slept, I ate Maggi for lunch and watched my Shahrukh’s RNBDJ”
“Surinder Sahni?” [Aarav] laughed, “nice movie isn’t it?”
“Amazing!”

2021, Syed Arshad, If It's Not Love, Blue Rose Publishers, page 132:

(India, Manglish, Singlish) Any type of instant noodles.


lehsuni

(India, cooking) Alternative form of lasoon


Kumari

From Sanskrit कुमारी (kumārī, “a young girl, one from ten to twelve years old, maiden, daughter”).

bor

(India) a polite form of address equivalent to the English Miss


tubelight

From tube + light. The "dim-witted person" sense arises from their flickering as well as the length of time it takes for one to light up completely after being switched on.

Tubelights can be very troublesome at times. They flicker on and on but refuse to glow.

2009, A. Subramanyam, Electronics Projects, volume 7, New Delhi: EFY Group, →ISBN, page 55:

"Sunscreens protect you from UVA/UVB rays which can be emitted from many sources of light such as the sun, your tubelight and devices," Dr Khan said, adding that using sunscreen once a day is the bare minimum you can do for your skin.

2021 April 4, “Here’s why Gwyneth Paltrow’s application of sunscreen in a recent video is highly misleading”, in The Indian Express:

(chiefly India, South Asia) A fluorescent lighting tube.

And Modiji, also being Snarkyji, described Rahulji as a tubelight because Rahulji had interjected only a good 40 minutes after Modiji had launched into his Parliamentary speech.

2020 February 7, “Tubelight and other insults”, in Deccan Herald:

(chiefly India, slang) a dim-witted person; someone who is slow to understand or reply.


handvo

(India) A kind of Gujarati vegetable cake.


chevda

Probably borrowed from Marathi चिवडा (civḍā), Gujarati ચેવડો (cevḍo).

(India) A kind of snack mix generally consisting of spicy ingredients.


turning approver

en-noun

turning approver (plural turning approvers)

(law, India and historically in the British Isles) Someone giving full disclosure about a crime in return for pardon.


Ker

* As an English and Scottish surname, variant of Carr.
* As a Hungarian surname, from Kér, name of a medieval Magyar tribe.
* As a Chinese surname, romanized from 寇 (kòu); compare Kou.
* Also as a Chinese surname, from 柯 (kē) (compare Ke) and 葛 (compare Ge).
* Also as a Chinese surname, from 郭 (guō), compare Guo.


CBFC

Central Board of Film Certification
w:Central Board of Film Certification

(India) Initialism of Central Board of Film Certification.


bhaiya

(especially North India) friend, dude, man


gandu

She was almost nice, or trying to be. But that Khushaal. What a gandu! A real ass!

2011, Farzana Doctor, Six Metres of Pavement, page 358:

See—a gandu, nothing more, just like I said. Surely if it were a plot, they'd send a proper man.

2013, Manil Suri, The City of Devi, page 327:

This Khushaal—you haven't seen his photographs, have you sir? The ugliest gandu in town...

2019, Anand Ranganathan, Chitra Subramaniam, The Rat Eater:

That gandu has set men after me.

2020, Ranjay Chowdhury, Ram Khan: The Weird Wizard:

(India, vulgar, slang) An arsehole, an idiot.

He is less likely to be considered a gandu (since presumably he can satisfy himself carnally at will with his wife).

1997, Hasan Mujtaba, Stephen O. Murray, Will Roscoe, Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History, and Literature, page 31:

Calling Nasim a gandu and declaring a jehad against gay Muslims, he allegedly lunged at Nasim while two restaurant employees tried to restrain him.

'I see you've put up a picture of Maggu Mahapatra and that gandu prince, what's his name, Tuttu...'

I am not here to disturb your honeymoon with that gandu-actor.

Mustafa renarrativized his heterosexuality by playing gay as a way to control and test how much of a "Gandu" or "Chakka" Khushaal was.

2015, Stanley I. Thangaraj, Desi Hoop Dreams, page 187:

(India, Pakistan, vulgar, slang, offensive) Someone who takes the passive role in anal sex.


namkeen

Borrowed from Hindi नमकीन (namkīn, “salty”).

(India) Any savoury snack eaten between meals.


sub-judge

desc

→ Bengali: সবজজ (śobojoj), সাবজজ (sabjoj)

→ Odia: ସବ୍ ଜଜ୍ (sab jaj)

Aziz was suing her for damages in the sub-judge’s court.

1924, E. M. Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin 2005, page 243:

Incidentally, the last phase of a very old case relating to the partition of the Bhingarpur common estate was in progress at the time in the sub-judge court.

2011, Harihar Mahapatra, translated by Ashok K Mohanty, My Life, My Work, page 196:

(India) The judge of a subordinate court.


struggleful

en-adj

struggleful (comparative more struggleful, superlative most struggleful)

more struggleful (comparative)
most struggleful (superlative)

(India) Full of struggle; difficult, hard.


special lassi

en-noun

special lassi (countable and uncountable, plural special lassis)

(India, euphemistic) A lassi (yogurt-based drink) with cannabis mixed in.


very less

There are very less facilities here.

Monsoon rains have very less affect^([sic]) on India's farmlands as government intervention has led to a well developed irrigation system across India.

2020, Vivek Sharma, Deepika Singh, Magbook Indian & World Geography 2020, page 130:


shikha

Murkhdutt, his hands covered with dough, rushed to the front of his room, craned his neck to look out, tried to arrange his shikha with his wrists, and rubbing his eyes looked in the direction of the gate.

2015, Tridip Suhrud, translating Govardhanram Madhavram Tripathi, Sarasvatichandra I, Orient BlackSwan 2015, p. 3

(India) The long lock of hair left on the shaved head of an orthodox Hindu, especially a Brahmin or temple priest.


shastri

uder

Hindi शास्त्री (śāstrī)

Sanskrit was for him the language of the shastris, who, despite their learning, were poor and dependent.

2015, Tridip Suhrud, translating Govardhanram Madhavram Tripathi, Sarasvatichandra I, Orient BlackSwan 2015, p. 16

(India) Someone who teaches the shastras.


karbhari

On the 6th of December, 1881, the Kesari again condemned the cruelties and oppressiveness of the Karbhari.

1978, Vishwanath Prasad Varma, The Life and Philosophy of Lokamanya Tilak, page 25:

Some four or five generations ago, Buddhidhan's ancestors had been the chief administrators, the karbharis of Suvarnapur.

2015, Tridip Suhrud, translating Govardhanram Madhavram Tripathi, Sarasvatichandra I, Orient BlackSwan 2015, p. 22

(historical, India) A chief administrator or senior official in certain Indian princely states.


pagdi

The number of strips tied around a pagdi decides the status of a person, the colour signifies the occasion and the style shows the caste and clan.

1998, RC Sharma, Thar: The Great Indian Desert, page 80:

He wore a pagdi embroidered with gold and silver thread on his head, a tight-fitting intricately patterned angarkha, and tight pajamas buttoned at the ankles.

2015, Tridip Suhrud, translating Govardhanram Madhavram Tripathi, Sarasvatichandra I, Orient BlackSwan 2015, p. 45


till date

‘You have never kept anything from me till date. Have I done something wrong that you no longer trust me?’

2015, Tridip Suhrud, translating Govardhanram Madhavram Tripathi, Sarasvatichandra I, Orient BlackSwan 2015, p. 133

Jahan was a Mumbai college girl who was gunned down in June, 2004 along with three others in Ahmedabad on suspicions of being Lashkar militants who allegedly were planning to kill then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, an encounter that haunts the BJP till date.


odhni

The rest of the ‘oḍhṇi’ is taken from over the left side and is rested over the head behind, the loose end being allowed to dangle ovor the right shoulder at the back and the right side.

1951, Govind Sadashiv Ghurye, Indian Costume, page 142:

Bura's eyes fell on a small rectangular packet. Her waving odhni, hanging on the clothesline, was brushing the packet lying beneath.

2008, Romi Jain, The Storm Within, page 89:

A gauzy odhni bright as moonlight covered her head, coming down to her slender waist.

2015, Tridip Suhrud, translating Govardhanram Madhavram Tripathi, Sarasvatichandra I, Orient BlackSwan 2015, p. 151


revert back

en-verb

revert back (third-person singular simple present reverts back, present participle reverting back, simple past and past participle reverted back)

reverts back (present singular third-person)
reverting back (participle present)
reverted back (participle past)
reverted back (past)

We will revert back to your job application soon.


half-pant

Children wear half pant-banyan or shirt, or knicker and shirt. Middle class men of the older generation wear dhoti-kurta or pyjama-kurta, and sadari (a kind of jacket), over the kurta.

2011, Bhaskar Majumder, Rethinking Villages, page 102:

A normal tendency for buying a gift is that it should be attractive like the saree of a woman, useful like the trousers of a man and costs like the half pant of a child.

2014, P. Shankar, Where Gods Die, page 146:


babu English

Despite the innocuous-sounding claim that the purpose of his article was ‘to provide a few notes on the characteristics of English used to-day by the educated Indian’ (Goffin 1934: 20), Goffin’s text is very much in the ‘Babu English’ tradition, that is, it derides the way in which Indians used English.

2014, James Lambert, “Diachronic stability in Indian English lexis”, in World Englishes, page 116:

(India) A variety of Indian English characterized by excessive formality, politeness, ornamentation, and an indirect manner of communication.


cooling glasses

/ˈkuːlɪŋ ˈɡlɑːsɪz/

/ˈkuːlɪŋ ˈɡlæsɪz/

Very high purity fused silica glasses are made, which have negligible thermal expansion. Hence, they are suitable for making items of high accuracy such as space telescopes. Photochromatic (also called photochromic) glasses are those glasses that darken in sunlight. These are useful for making cooling glasses.

2013, Srikumar Koyikkal, “Inorganic Chemicals”, in Chemical Process Technology and Simulation, New Delhi: Asoke K. Ghosh, PHI Learning, →ISBN, section 4.7.5 (Other Types of Glasses), page 158:

A loud implosion and a thick blanket of black smoke are what remained of the twin tower of Prime Trust Heights in Moulivakkam, which was demolished at 6.52 pm on Wednesday. […] "I have an umbrella, cooling glasses, binoculars, water bottle, and I am all set to take a selfie when the building comes down," said Ananth, a class 10 student.

2016 November 3, Shruti Suresh, “Gone in 3 seconds: Building demolished using implosive technique”, in Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad, Telegana, India, archived from the original on 2017-04-29:

Suddenly, Somu took his cooling glasses from his pocket and asked him to wear them and later, Ramu slowly managed to see. Somu advised Ramu on the necessity of wearing sun glasses during summer season.

2017, Shipra Agarwal, “Sample Paper 3”, in Mrunal Patel, editor, CBSE Board Class 12 Physics Solved Papers (2008–17) in Level of Difficulty with 3 Sample Papers (Latest Pattern), 4th edition, New Delhi: Disha Publications, →ISBN, page 399:


Chanakya

/ˈtʃɑːnəkjə/

/ˈt͡ʃɑnəkjə/

From Sanskrit चाणक्य (Cāṇakya). Chanakya was an Indian economist, philosopher, political scientist, and royal advisor of the 4th century B.C.E. He is traditionally identified as the person named Kauṭilya or Vishnugupta who authored the Arthashastra, a political treatise. He engineered the collapse of Magadha and put Chandragupta Maurya into power, establishing the Maurya Empire.

But these methods of the Chāṇakyas—the Macchiavellis of India—unfortunately always carry the seeds of destruction in their bosom.

1908, The Theosophist, volume 29, Adyar, Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, →OCLC, page 722:

[T]hose who have shed their wings, who walk by thrusting a walking stick into the mud with each step are regarded as the epitome of wisdom by the Chanakyas of our society …

2006, Rabindranath Tagore, edited by Uma Das Gupta, My Life in My Words, New Delhi: Penguin Viking, →ISBN:

I can see why Jawaharlal Nehru once flirted with the idea of becoming a Chanakya, even as he laughed at himself for such fantasising. He had no time for [Niccolò] Machiavelli.

2010, M[obashar] J[awed] Akbar, Have Pen, Will Travel: Observations of a Globetrotter, New Delhi: Lotus Collection, →ISBN:

"So, are we dealing with a Chanakya here?" "Yes, but Chanakya with a difference. Whereas, the original Chanakya helped a fifteen-year-old Chandragupta fight against the injustices and inconsistencies of the world, here is one who chooses to fight with hidden weapons against an unarmed fifteen-year-old, and that too in the garb of friendship. The modern Chanakya deserves kudos for explicit bravery."

2015, Ajit Sherawat, “The Siblings Settle Down”, in Born in the Second Wind, New Delhi: Srishti Publishers & Distributors, →ISBN, page 36:

Existence of an enemy within is tantamount to kicking a self-goal. Chanakyas of the modern era excel in the art of intrigue, to destroy their business/political nemesis, and abet and celebrate self-goals by their opponents.

2016, Kooveli Madom, “Factors Influencing Our Predicament”, in Know Your Enemy Within: Bridging Knowledge and Practice of Management, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Partridge Publishing, →ISBN:

(India) A shrewd politician or, in general, a cunning person; a Machiavelli.

Arthashastra
Chanakya
Chandragupta Maurya
Magadha
Maurya Empire


muhurtam

Borrowed from Sanskrit मुहूर्तम् (muhūrtam).

(India, Hinduism, astrology) An auspicious day on which an important event, usually a wedding, can be held.


sarkari

Borrowed from Hindi सरकारी (sarkārī). The usage of "sarkari" as a negative term originated from Khalistani supporters who condemned Sikhs who supported the government of India.

sarkari Musalman

a Muslim who favours BJP policies instead of Muslim activism

They argued that households which had received loans from other government programmes such as the Integrated Rural Development Programme, should not be entitled to ecodevelopment funds as their 'quota' for sarkari money was full.

2007, Kuldip Singh Gulia, Ecology and Environment in the Himalayas, page 285:

Instead of sticking to practices followed aeons ago of sarkari school education, he should have sent him to a good convent where it was mandatory to speak in English even during the lunch break.

2012, Ashwini Bhatnagar, The High Bouncing Lover, page 24:

(India, Islam, slang) Supporting the government of India, pro-establishment; specifically, the BJP and Hindutva, against Indian Muslim interests.


OBC

other backward class
other backward class#English

(India) Initialism of other backward class.


half murder

en-noun

half murder (countable and uncountable, plural half murders)

That was the half murder. The next one was a liquor seller, Philips Daruwala, and that was the first proper murder.

2009, Suketu Mehta, Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, page 192:

Before he could get out Rita was already arrested for half-murder of her step-father.

2017, Priya Gaikwad, Prison Diaries: How Dare She be a Woman and Have Dreams of Freedom:

(India, idiomatic) The committing of a grievous, but not fatal, injury.


Devdas

Borrowed from Hindi देवदास (devdās) or Bengali দেবদাস (debdaś), the name of the male lead in the 1917 Bengali-language story Devdas, readapted several times since.

"I don't know," he had said and sighed, Devdas style: "I don't know," Everyone wants to be a Devdas, at least for a while — or perhaps only for a while. Tragic hero.

1980, Sāhitya Akademi, Indian Literature, volume 23, page 539:

It reminds me very much of the Devdas character that so suffuses Indian cinema, not just in the 1935 and 1955 film versions, but as a 'Devdas effect' in Hindi melodramas, especially those of Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt.

1996, Bruce Bennett, Crossing Cultures: Essays on Literature and Culture of the Asia-Pacific:

Indians everywhere recognized that when somebody pined, longed, and raged for someone else, they were "doing a Devdas."

2007, Anupama Chopra, King of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema:

The character of Kashyap's Dev, although it is built on the same model as traditional Devdases, is different and suffers for other reasons.

2017, Cornelius Crowley, Heritage and Ruptures in Indian Literature, Culture and Cinema, page 198:


do the needful

en-verb

do the needful (third-person singular simple present does the needful, present participle doing the needful, simple past did the needful, past participle done the needful)

does the needful (present singular third-person)
doing the needful (participle present)
did the needful (past)
done the needful (participle past)

My father had, generally speaking, his temper under complete self command, and his anger rarely indicated itself by words, except in a sort of dry testy manner to those who had displeased him. He never used threats or expressions of loud resentment. All was arranged with him on system and it was his practice to "do the needful" on every occasion, without wasting words about it.

1817, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 2, in Rob Roy, volume 1, Edinburgh: James Ballantyne and Co., published 1818, page 24:

The best way to handle Biafra agitation is through a round table, dialogue with them since they feel they are not well treated. These people are hungry. Let the president do the needful by calling them to order, call the youth to order.

2017 November 3, Seun Opejobi, quoting Rev. Divine Okwara, “Biafra: Prophet Okwara reveals how Buhari can ‘kill’ agitation for Igbo nation”, in Daily Post (Nigeria):

(India, Nigeria, dated UK) To do that which is necessary or required.


talav

Borrowed from Gujarati તળાવ (taḷāv) and Marathi तलाव (talāv).


poda patti

Borrowed from Malayalam പോടാ പട്ടീ (pōṭā paṭṭī, “go away, dog”).

bor

The puppy seized the opportunity and tried to stage a combined entry. Kochu Maria hit the floor fiercely with her hands and said, "Hup, Hup! Poda patti!" So the puppy, wisely, desisted. It appeared to be familiar with this routine.

2008, Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things: A Novel:

A servant's snot-nosed child smiled up at him before stomping the ground to scare away a straggly cat by shouting, 'Poda patti' - Go away, you miserable dog!

2009, Janhavi Acharekar, Window seat: rush-hour stories from the city:

The world mocked me when i sent my resumes to consulting firms and investment banks. Rahul Gupta's exact words were, 'Einstein, you are a complete idiot.' IN YOUR FACE RAHUL GUPTA ! PODA PATTI! Bastard.

2016, Sidin Vadukut, Dork: The Incredible Adventures of Robin 'Einstein' Varghese:

(India, slang) An insult: go away, you dog!


in-state

tlb

(US, also Australia, India, Malaysia, Nigeria)

in-state travel

The Michigan football team’s annual tilt with in-state rival Michigan State will be a 7:30 p.m. ET game.

2017 September 26, Rachel Lenzi, “Michigan-Michigan State”, in The Diehards Network, archived from the original on 2017-09-26:

Existing or occurring within a single state.

an in-state student

Of or from the state where an institution is located, especially a public or state-funded college or university.

in-state tuition

Out-of-state tuition is generally two to three times higher than in-state tuition for each of the years, regardless of institution type.

2007, Ronald G. Ehrenberg, What's Happening to Public Education? The Shifting Financial Burden, page 172:

Applicable to or available to individuals of or from the state.


chaudhuri

(historical, India) A leader or representative of a group of traders.


carfie

Long time since I took a carfie.

Whether she’s walking the red carpet of her movie premieres or sitting in the front rows of award shows or simply clicking a carfie (car selfie), Mahira always offers an effortless take on dressing.

2018 March 22, Sanya Panwar, “Mahira Khan has effortless style: Her pics will give you outfit inspo for days”, in Hindustan Times:

Priyanka Chopra looks absolutely flawless in this sun-kissed carfie from San Francisco

2018 September 13, “Nick Jonas won't let go of Priyanka Chopra and these photos are proof”, in Times Now:

(informal, India) A smartphone-taken picture of oneself in a car.


countwise

(chiefly India) In terms of the count, or thickness, of yarn.


hakka noodle

Vegetarian Hakka noodles are held forth as a dish from the Hakka region of China that has been re-created in India's Chinatowns for at least a century. It's just that somehow, they've become Indian.

2014, Brian Yarvin, A World of Noodles, page 196:

Hakka noodles are made from plain or egg noodles, stir-fried with sauces and crunchy vegetables.

2016, Harminder Singh Magon, My Epicurean Journey: Elegant and Inspirational Recipes for Life:

(India) A kind of stir-fried rice or egg noodle dish in Indo-Chinese cuisine.


chicken 65

Supposedly originated at a restaurant in Chennai in 1965.

Anup replied, "I like veg but I don't want to spoil my non-vegetarian menus, especially chicken-65."

2017, Satish Kumar, Campus Plus: Dreams, Friends And Challenges, page 110:

Finally, all of us unanimously agreed to go to the Chinese bandi because the thought of chicken in the chicken 65 […]

(India) An Indo-Chinese dish consisting of deep-fried chicken and red chillies.


sickular

en-adj

sickular (comparative more sickular, superlative most sickular)

more sickular (comparative)
most sickular (superlative)

'Sickular bigscreen operator!' screamed another, shaking his fist in the direction of the Congress dugout. Modi moved.

(India, derogatory, slang) Leftist; in Indian politics, a supposed secularist partaking in tokenism, or opposed to Hindu nationalism.


sickular

(India, derogatory, slang, politics) A leftist; in Indian politics, a secularist, either partaking in tokenism, or opposed to Hindu nationalism.


bhakt

kattar

towards strict and overtly-devout Hindus

andh bhakt

blind devotee; Indian politics; referring to a fervent supporter

Ram bhakt

devotee of Rama; politics; a worshipper of Rama or a fervent supporter of Hindutva

Even if Modi didn't look closely at his tweets, his team and followers certainly did. If the Gandhi family had their political chamchas, Modi had his 'Internet Hindus' (or bhakts, as I called them).

2015, Rajdeep Sardesai, 2014: The Election That Changed India:

For example, I've met Modi myself and interviewed him twice. But these Modi bhakts might pray to him every morning, yet they'll never enjoy such access.

2016, Sonali Acharjee, Look Up: Social Media and the Addiction No One Is Talking About:

Our nation is divided into Modi Bhakts and Aaptards (#SorryCongress). This is why elections are also fought on the appeal of individuals rather than on the actions of the parties (#PaanchSaalKejriwal #AbkiBaarModiSarkar).

2017, Revant Himatsingka, Selfienomics: A Seriously Funny Guide to Living the Good Life:

(India, derogatory, politics, slang) An ardent right-wing Hindu nationalist netizen.

(India, derogatory, politics, slang) An ardent supporter of the Bharatiya Janata Party or its leader Narendra Modi.


tiatr

Borrowed from Konkani तियात्र (tiyātra), from Portuguese teatro. Doublet of theater.

The biggest defect in Tiatr is that till now there has not been classification. The definition of tiatrists — the one who writes, directs, composes songs, sings and produces.

2002, Mario Cabral e Sá, Redefining horizons: Goa, four decades of freedom, page 116:

(India) A kind of drama genre of Goa, usually in the Konkani language.


shooldarry

(India) A small tent with a steep sloping roof and low sides.


nuzzer

From Hindi [Term?] (literally “vow, votive offering, ceremonial gift”).


sirgang

(India, obsolete) The Asiatic green jackdaw.


competition wallah

en-noun

competition wallah (plural competition wallahs)

(India, historical, colloquial) A member of the civil service who obtained an appointment by the competitive system instituted in 1856.


runn

(India) A tract of sandy or boggy land often overflowed by the tide.


samasya

(India) A poetry challenge in which the poet is given a line and must improvise a verse around it.


matbar

(India) The leader of a village, who serves as arbiter in local disputes.


BIMARU

Word-play on Hindi बीमार (bīmār, “sick, ill”), coined by Indian demographer Ashish Bose in the 1980s.

coinage

(India, sometimes derogatory) Initialism of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, the poorest and least developed regions in India.


panchnama

From Hindi पंचनामा (pañcnāmā, literally “five-document”), originally in reference to the five witnesses required by law.

bor

(India) A record of witness testimony, usually prepared by the police, during the investigation of a crime or after a death.


chargesheet

(India, Pakistan, Bangladesh) A document of accusation prepared by law enforcement to be submitted to the court.


chargesheet

en-verb

chargesheet (third-person singular simple present chargesheets, present participle chargesheeting, simple past and past participle chargesheeted)

chargesheets (present singular third-person)
chargesheeting (participle present)
chargesheeted (participle past)
chargesheeted (past)

(transitive, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh) To prepare such a document of accusation against.


bypoll

This was perhaps her expression of gratitude for the GJMM on the latter's support for the Trinamool candidate in the Rajgunj assembly bypoll.

2012, Romit Bagchi, Gorkhaland: Crisis of Statehood, →ISBN:

Yet the ruling party has been able to win the Howrah bypoll comfortably.

2015, Sudip Bhattacharyya, Over The Years:, page 122:

Sawant is the widow of former MLA Bala Sawant who died sometime back and due to this this bypoll was held.

2016, Manish Verma, Current Affairs Manual 2016, →ISBN:

The extent of the DMK's alleged vote-buying in the 2009 Thirumangalam bypoll led to observers speaking of excessive cash distribution ahead of elections as the "Thirumangalam" model.

2017, Milan Vaishnav -, When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics, →ISBN:


jheenga

(India, cooking) Alternative form of jhinga


car-lifting

(India) grand theft auto; stealing a car


EAM

The EAM said that the post Cold War era has opened up new opportunities for cooperation between the two countries. The EAM conveyed India's hope to work closely with Iran in the international forums.

1995, BBC, Summary of World Broadcasts - Asia Pacific, page 3:

In the words of Indian EAM Swaraj, the dialogue is “the starting point for a new era in relations between India and Central Asia."

2020, Anil Sigdel, India in the Era of China’s Belt and Road Initiative: How Modi Responds to Xi, →ISBN, page 44:

External Affairs Minister
w:Minister of External Affairs (India)

(India) Acronym of External Affairs Minister.


thermocol

At the right temperature, the wire sliced through thermocol like a knife through soft butter.


cheelam

en-noun

cheelam (countable and uncountable, plural cheelams)

(India) An earthen bowl in which tobacco is kept and smoked through its hollow neck.


surmai

(India) A fish, the Indo-Pacific king mackerel (Scomberomorus guttatus).


AURA

Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft
w:Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft

(India) Acronym of Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft.


goondaism

(India) thuggery; rowdyism; aggressive and violent tactics


mediaperson

mediaperson (plural mediapersons or mediapeople)

mediapersons (plural)
mediapeople (plural)


seviyan

(India, cooking) An Indian style of wheat vermicelli.


paruppu

Borrowed from Tamil பருப்பு (paruppu, “pulse, gram”). Compare Telugu పప్పు (pappu).

(India, cooking) A dish of boiled lentils; dal.


kalakar

Borrowed from Hindustani कलाकार (kalākār) / کَلَاکَار (kalākār).


commissionerate

From commissioner + -ate (forms nouns denoting a rank or office, here the concrete charge of it).

af

(India) Part of a district placed under the control of a police commissioner.


badla

en-noun

badla (countable and uncountable, plural badlas)

(India, finance) An indigenous carryforward system used on the Bombay Stock Exchange.


shaadi

Borrowed from Hindustani शादी / شادی (śādī), from Persian شادی (šâdi), from Old Persian shiyâti.

After my shaadi, I packed away those times. My duty was to my husband—and my three boys, also.

2012, Tarquin Hall, The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken: A Vish Puri Mystery, page 234:


lafanga

(India) A bad person; a ne'er-do-well or good-for-nothing.


starcast

(India) A cast of celebrity actors in a film or play.


karaila

(India) Alternative form of karela (“bitter melon”)


mistry

(India) Alternative form of maistry (“foreman or artisan”)


methai

(India, cooking) Alternative form of methi (“fenugreek”)


paramaatma

(India, religion) The eternal divine or cosmic soul.


bargadar

(India, especially West Bengal) A sharecropper.


SIT

(India) Initialism of Special Investigation Team.


theatreperson

theatreperson (plural theatrepersons or theatrepeople)

theatrepersons (plural)
theatrepeople (plural)

(India) A person involved in the theatre.


vakalatnama

(India, law) A document filed by a party in order to appoint a lawyer to plead on their behalf.


Love Jihad

(India) An alleged campaign by which Muslim men target women of non-Muslim communities for conversion to Islam by feigning romantic love.

land jihad

alleged purchase of land owned by Hindus


mukata

(India, historical) A kind of tithe, consisting of the proprietorship of one seventh of all the produce of a parish or district.


cricketainment

(India) The promotion of the sport of cricket as a glamorous entertainment event.


varatti

varatti (countable and uncountable, plural varattis)

(India) Cakes of dried cow dung used for fuel.


ambotik

(India, cooking) An Indian dish made with pomfret and coconut in a tangy sauce.


pradhaman

pradhaman (countable and uncountable, plural pradhamans)


behenji

(India, informal, derogatory) A woman who favours traditional Indian clothing, music, etc. over the Western equivalents.


pulissery

(India) A Keralan curry made with buttermilk and cucumber.


amaltas

(India) The canafistula or golden shower tree.


ajmoda

Probably from Hindi अजमोद (ajmod) from Sanskrit अजमोद (ajamoda)

(India) A plant related to ajwain, Trachyspermum roxburghianum, used as a spice and in Ayurvedic medicine.

(India) The seeds of wild celery, used in Indian folk medicine.


galouti

(India, cooking) A kind of finely-textured Indian kebab.


bethak

(India) Alternative form of baithak (“type of knee bend”)


malafide

Soutik Banerjee, an advocate assisting Mr. Shah’s legal team, describes the ruling as a positive development, writing in a statement that it “exemplifies that there has been arbitrary and malafide use of extraordinary laws against Fahad. … Only time will tell if UAPA charges will also apply.”

2023, Srishti Jaswal, Monitor reporter’s trial opens: Why India treats journalists as terrorists, in: The Christian Science Monitor, April 19 2023


malafide

(India, law) Something done in bad faith.


nikahnama

(India, Pakistan) An Islamic matrimonial deed, setting out the partners' rights to divorce, polygamy, etc.


parawise

(India, law) Of a reply: prepared in paragraphs.


pracharak

(India) A missionary or recruiter belonging to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, an Indian nationalist paramilitary volunteer organization.


swayamsevak

From Hindi स्वयंसेवक (svayansevak), from Sanskrit स्वयम् (svayam, “self”) and सेवक (sevaka, “servant”).

(India, politics) A member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, an Indian nationalist paramilitary volunteer organization.


tamashbeen

Borrowed from Hindi तमाशबीन (tamāśbīn)/Urdu تماشبین. From तमाशा (tamāśā, “spectacle”) + -बीन (-bīn, suffix concerning vision), from Persian تماشا + بین.

bor

Urdu تماشبین

The police stood by like tamashbeens (spectators) watching the carnage. They had been tipped off not to interfere but let looters and killers teach hapless men, women and children a lesson they would never forget.

2017, Khushwant Singh, The End of India:

(India, Pakistan) spectator; onlooker; sightseer


pagoda tree

(source of wealth): See pagoda (“a kind of gold coin”).

India has been transferred from the regions of romance to the realms of fact […] the mines of Golconda no longer pay the cost of working, and the pagoda-tree has been stripped of all its golden fruit.

It might be mistaken […] for the work of some modern architect, built for the Nabob of a couple of generations back, who had enriched himself when the pagoda-tree was worth the shaking.

1881 September 3, Saturday Review, page 307:

(India, archaic, colloquial) The opportunity to make money rapidly in British India.


doosooty

en-noun

doosooty (countable and uncountable, plural doosooties)

(India, obsolete) A kind of cheap cotton material woven with the threads doubled.


haldi

Borrowed from Hindi हलदी (haldī), from Sanskrit हलदी (haladī).

Children, during growth period, should be given a glass of milk with 23 gms of haldi powder daily. It will promote their growth, strengthen bones, purify blood and aid in the digestive process. Haldi powder sprinkled on open wounds […]

2016, Dr. S.K. Sharma, Food for Good Health, Diamond Pocket Books Pvt Ltd, →ISBN:


sanskari

en-adj

sanskari (comparative more sanskari, superlative most sanskari)

more sanskari (comparative)
most sanskari (superlative)

(India) cultured; well-mannered and knowledgeable


duplicacy

en-noun

duplicacy (usually uncountable, plural duplicacies)

(India) duplication; the state of being duplicated, or having a redundant copy


cow belt

From the widespread practices venerating cattle in that region in northern India. Influenced by the English term Bible Belt.

(India) A rural region of Northern India, extending over the BIMARU states.


deshmukh

(India, historical) The head or ruler of a district.


BHK

(India) Initialism of bedroom(s), hall, and kitchen.


silladar

(India, historical) A member of a troop of irregular cavalry.


goraksha

(India) protection of cows, particularly as seen as a social or religious duty


gomutra

/ɡəʊˈmuːtɹə/

Transliteration of Hindi गोमूत्र (gomūtra).


mamiji

(India) mother's brother's wife; maternal aunt


chatpata

(India, cooking) either spicy or sour or tangy.


parishad

Transliteration of Sanskrit परिषद् (pariṣad) or Hindi परिषद (pariṣad).

(chiefly in India) A governmental assembly or council in India.


gangman

Heavy snowfalls are prevalent in winter on the higher sections. Three rotary ploughs are stationed on the mountain length, and dozer-ploughs, scrapers, and several hundred extra gangmen are called in to assist when necessary.

1947 September and October, “By Northern Pacific to Seattle”, in Railway Magazine, page 270:

(chiefly India and Africa) A member of a work gang; a laborer, often on railways.


chobdar

(India, historical) A frequent attendant of Indian nobles, and formerly also of Anglo-Indian officials of rank, carrying a staff overlaid with silver.


uptil

About 800 tractors were to be purchased in the scheme but actually 509 tractors were purchased uptil the end of January 1974.

1974, Planning and Development Department, Punjab Development Review and Prospects, Volumes 3-4, Punjab (Pakistan), page 96:

In the north this area extends uptil New Kavi Nagar, in the south uptil national Bye-pass Road, in the east uptil municipal limits […]

1989, Aruna Saxena, Perspectives in Industrial Geography: A Case Study of an Industrial City of Uttar Pradesh, Concept Publishing Company, page 61:

As has been seen earlier Mrs. Indira Gandhi was elected Congress President in February 1959 and continued to hold the office uptil December 1961.

1988, Bameshwar Singh, Congress Ministries Under the High Command Shadow, Bihar (India): Commonwealth Publishers, page 88:


bakchodi

(India, slang) idle or worthless chatter


kendra

Borrowed from Hindi केंद्र (kendra), from Sanskrit केन्द्र (kendra), from Ancient Greek κέντρον (kéntron), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱent-r-om (“pointed tool”). Doublet of center.


adraki

Borrowed from Hindi अदरकी (adarkī), from अदरक (adrak, “ginger”) + -ई (-ī).


takid

From Hindi ताकीद (tākīd) / Urdu تَاکِیدْ (tākīd), from Arabic تَأْكِيد (taʔkīd).

bor

Urdu تَاکِیدْ (tākīd)

(India, historical) An official reminder.


pakodanomics

From pakoda + -nomics, referencing Narendra Modi's comment in January 2018 that street food vendors should be included in employment statistics.

(India, economics, neologism) The economic policies of Narendra Modi


pantham

(India) A masonry dam used for storing water.


roadside Romeo

Named after the famous lover in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Ismail Bhai speaks Bambaiya. In particular, his speech is heavily laced with bhai-giri, the street style of taporis—wannabe thugs, wastrels, roadside Romeos, smart alecks, and of course, the quintessential fast-talking and endearing Bombay hustleer of Hindi cinema. While Bhai is bro, the suffix giri is a mode of operation, code, style or trend.

2022 July 30, Gautam Pemmaraju, “Bol Bachchan: Speaking Together And Sticking Together In Mumbai”, in Outlook:

(India) A young man who harasses women in the street, subjecting them to Eve-teasing.


chautha

(India) A day of mourning and prayers for the dead, the fourth day after the funeral.


saala

(India, slang, vulgar, derogatory) a term of abuse, swear word


dhooly

(India, obsolete) Alternative form of dooly (“basic Indian litter; stretcher; litter”)


processionist

And here also, just outside the Imambara, near the wayside shrine of a local saint, was a busy fair—where the mourning of the processionists intermingled with the festive excitement of people buying or selling knick-knacks and holy pictures […]

1993, Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy, New York: HarperPerennial, published 1994, Part Fifteen, p. 1144:

(India) A person who marches in a procession.


relay strike

(chiefly India) A type of strike where workers in a particular sector strike sequentially per business.


shikshakarmi

Hindi शिक्षाकर्मी (śikṣākarmī)


pehelwan

Take these two pehelwans and take sticks and kill all the snakes in this compound. I don't want to see any of these creatures alive on my lands.

2001, Ashok Singh, The Snake God, page 258:

The Dom Raja's home even had its very own wrestling pit, where only decades ago, pehelwans threw each other to the ground and played for glory.

2023, Radhika Iyengar, Fire on the Ganges, Fourth Estate, page 294:


simkin

From a native Indian pronunciation of champagne.

(India, slang, archaic, British India) champagne


bhai

tlb

(India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Hinglish, Benglish)

PIE word
 *bʰréh₂tēr
Transliteration of Hindustani بھائی (bhāī) / भाई (bhāī) and other South Asian languages, ultimately from Sanskrit भ्रातृ (bhrātṛ). Doublet of brother, pal, frater, friar, and vai.


ghani

(India) A powered mortar and pestle used to extract oil.


johad

(Northwest India) A community-owned traditional harvested rainwater storage wetland.


jhumming

Jhumming consists during its first stage, clearance of the shrubs, surface soil with the undergrowth at the autumn season, while the conservation of the ashes for manuring is practiced during February or March. After felling the jungle, the common practice is that trees and shrubs are exposed to sunshine, which when dried are burnt.

2002, V. K. Agnihotri, Chandragupta Ashokvardhan, Socio-economic Profile of Rural India: North-East India, →OCLC:

(India, agriculture) The practice of cutting down and burning the vegetation from an area of forest in order to create farmable land.


biosulphur

(UK, India) Alternative spelling of biosulfur


consortism

Nowhere in the Vaisnava artistic tradition does one find the kind of representation of divine consortism that occurs in the Śaiva tradition, and based on this alone it is possible to assert that divine consortism in the Vaisnava tradition does not reflect the praka-śavimarśa aspect of consciousness which is a central feature of Śiva-Śakti art.

1996, Harsha V. Dehejia, The Advaita of art, page 165:

The consortism of Śiva and Pārvatī is a perfect artistic model of Kāśmīr Śaivism which ultimately leads to the ānanda of aesthetic realisatiton.

2001, Neeta Yadav, Ardhanārīśvara in Art and Literature, →ISBN, page 142:

The sexual rite of the fertility cult of the 'archaic' Tantrism transformed into spiritual Tantrism as Śivaism and Vișņuism; also developed the philosophical concepts of consortism or dualism of Śańkhya — purușa and prakŗti — having close affinity with Taoist yan and ying.

2003, Bikash Kumar Bhattacharya, Tārā in Hinduism: Study with Textual and Iconographical Documentation, →ISBN, page 32:

(India) The relationship between consorts.


overspeed

en-verb

overspeed (third-person singular simple present overspeeds, present participle overspeeding, simple past and past participle (mostly US) oversped or (mostly UK) overspeeded)

overspeeds (present singular third-person)
overspeeding (participle present)
oversped (US participle past)
oversped (US past)
overspeeded (UK participle past)
overspeeded (UK past)

(India, intransitive) To speed; to drive a vehicle faster than the permitted speed limit.


chikoo

Regarding seasons of other fruits in Bombay it is seen that oranges, mosambis and chikoos are available almost throughout the year, the peak period of chikoos being December and January.

1968, Marketing of Bananas in the State of Maharashtra, →OCLC, page 38:

The chikoo grafts which were prepared here were of "Kalipatti Variety". This variety was of very good quality and one of the best in the country.

1996, Jayant Patil, Agricultural and Rural Reconstruction: A Sustainable Approach:

(India) Synonym of sapodilla (tree and fruit)


jutti

You have such a variety of juttis and boots, and you wear all of them turn by turn.

2005, Anna Sieklucka, Santalinama: Partition Stories, →OCLC, page 19:

(India, particularly north Indian) An item of footwear embroidered with silver or gold thread.


gundy

Control measures were also carried out against the 'Kutra' (Amsacta sp.), termites, ands, the paddy 'Gundy Bugs' (Leptocorisa varicornis), the 'Singhara Beetle' (Galerucella singhara), the 'Painted Bug' (Bagrada crusiferarum Kirk.), 'Red pumpkin beetle' (Aulacophora spp.) and the 'Cutworms' (Agrotis spp.).

1954, Annual Scientific Report, Indian Agricultural Research Institute:

The stink-glands of many bugs are well known to most residents in India, whether by the characteristic odour of the common Bed-bug or by the disgusting taste in one's soup caused by a "gundy” which has been attracted by the lights on the dinner-table.

1914, Thomas Bainbrigge Fletcher, Some South Indian Insects and Other Animals of Importance Considered Especially from an Economic Point of View:

(India) A true bug (genus Leptocorisa), known for being a pest on rice and for its unpleasant smell.


cheatercock

Cheater cock Kerala cop: IPS officer found guilty of cheating in exam

2015 August 11, “Archived copy”, in The News Minute, archived from the original on 2019-07-26:

(India) Someone who violates rules in order to gain an advantage; a cheater.


sidey

en-adj

sidey (comparative more sidey, superlative most sidey)

more sidey (comparative)
most sidey (superlative)


prasada

Borrowed from Sanskrit प्रसाद (prasāda).

(India) A religious offering, usually of vegetarian food consumed by worshippers after worship, in Hinduism and Sikhism.


give way sign

(British, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Nigeria, Nepal, Jamaica, Barbados, Israel, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Pakistan, India, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Fiji, Ghana, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Kenya, Malta, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zimbabwe) a road sign which instructs road users to give right of way to other traffic

Bermuda; Ghana; Isle of Man; Solomon Islands; Tanzania; Bermuda; Ghana; Isle of Man; Solomon Islands; Tanzania


Hinduphobic

Hinduphobic (comparative more Hinduphobic, superlative most Hinduphobic)

more Hinduphobic (comparative)
most Hinduphobic (superlative)

(India, politics) Opposed to Hindutva or Hindu nationalism.

(India, politics) Leftist; liberal; supportive of Western or Islamist interests.


newfind

This panoramic picture of the soil's bounty was made possible by agricultural research, extension work propagating the newfinds (hybrid varieties) and the ceaseless and untiring efforts of the Samiti staff, the timely cooperation of the Agricultural and Cooperative Departments, but for whose cumulative effort the present picture and others to follow might not be there.

1968, Panchayati Raj - Volume 9, page 30:

When newfind Fatima Sheikh says she's "only 18". Anand gives her a long hard look, then draws her close and ruffles her hair.

1989, Bombay: The City Magazine - Volume 11, Issues 1-6, page 39:

Let me feel your face says newfind Rasikapriya to Pandian in "KARUNKUYIL KUNDRAM" (Tamil) Chiranjeevi and Bhanupriya in "STATE ROWDY" (Telugu).

1991, Ram Awatar Agnihotri, Modern Indian Films on Rural Background:


TVC

(India) Initialism of town vending committee.


chup

chup (comparative more chup, superlative most chup)

more chup (comparative)
most chup (superlative)

Borrowed from Hindi चुप (cup, “silent, quiet; keep quiet, shut up”).

bor+

to keep chup ― to be quiet; to keep mum

Did the strike-leaders not know this fact? Did the general body of Municipal employees do anything to stop this? Were they not co-operating with the thieves amongst them by keeping chup over it all these years?

1949 November 14, “Strike in Calcutta Municipality”, in The Modern Review, volume 86, number 5, Calcutta: The Modern Review Office, Notes, page 341:


chup

(informal, India) Used to request silence: be quiet, shut up!


urad dal

From Hindi उड़द दाल (uṛad dāl); see urad + dal.

(India, cooking) A bean (Vigna mungo) or a dish made from it.


kulfiwala

(India) A street vendor who sells kulfi.


staff corps

(India, military, historical) A body of British officers serving on the permanent Indian establishment, appointed from it to do duty with native regiments, etc.


patwar

Out of the total number of 15,155 villages and 474 patwars in the State, 14,545 villages and 438 patwars were covered by the Co-operative Movement up to the end of the year under report.

The survey was completed of the patwars, Raipur, Rasour and Mandli covering an area of 12,841 acres, ...

1962, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Scientific Reports:

Assistant Project Officers were also appointed to assist the Project Officer who proved very helpful to the sufferers in various patwars. As regards A&B Blocks, there is a great shortage of houses.

1966, Jammu and Kashmir (India). Legislature. Legislative Assembly, Debates; Official Reports

(India, usually in the phrase "patwar circle") A revenue block in India, a subdivision of a district, usually smaller than a tehsil and consisting of several villages.


imshee

(imperative, UK, slang, dated, India) go away


wantedly

"Beckaroo," Bhondu said, "I wantedly want give you espaical^([sic]) job. You to cut a naice^([sic]) tamarind stick every Monday. Wokay."

1979, Subramani, The Indo-Fijian Experience, page 146:

Therefore, I charge this Government that it deliberately, wantedly and wilfully neglects the regional languages of the States and I charge this Government that it allows Hindi to encroach upon the legitimate place of regional languages in […]

1987, Aladi Aruna, A Voice for the States, page 132:

If Balu dialed through telephone to subcontractors keeping receiver in his ear,some people will wantedly cut that.They will make irritation to Balu. Once Balu dialing to an^([sic]) plating shop senthil the co-staff wantedly cut down the telephone call.

2011, Oscarbond, I Am Not Intelligent, page 82:

I want to sit near you in the hotel, but our family was there so I wantedly sit in the opposite direction to watch you.

2019, Deepa, These are the words I message you, page 91:

I wantedly isolated myself.

2017, Gautham Prakash, Triple Integration of Love:

(India) In a wanted or deliberate manner; on purpose, willingly.


thuthse

From an Angami-Pochuri language; compare Angami zhūtsē (“vessel for brewing rice beer”).

noncog

She started to use dansberg blue (beer), gin, honey bee, country made alcohol (Zutho, Thutse), Mc Dowell, royal stag, signature and vodka. She is a heavy drinker.

2014, Velhou Koza, Consequences of Drug Addiction and Alcoholism in Naga Society: A Case Study of Kohima, Dimapur and Phek Districts (Ph.D. dissertation), archived from the original on 2021-12-20, page 127:

The carnivalesque nature of the festival (this is the only time in this dry state that Thutse or local rice beer is openly sold and liberally consumed with the consent of the government) has resulted in a strong reaction from, in particular, the Baptist Church (the largest and predominant in the state).

2014, Theyiesinuo Keditsu, “Prohibition and Naga Cultural Identity: Cultural Politics of Hornbill Festival, Nagaland”, in Sub\versions: A Journal of Emerging Research in Media and Cultural Studies (2.2), archived from the original on 2020-07-13:

Drinks include zutho and thutse, beers made with sticky rice.

c. 2020, Nagaland Current Affairs Yearbook 2020:

(India) A beer made from rice in Nagaland; similar to zutho.


mussuck

From Urdu مشک (maśak) / Hindi मशक (maśak), from Persian مشک (mašk), from Middle Persian [script needed] (mšk' /mašk/), from Old Persian 𐎶𐏁𐎣𐎠 (m-š-k-a /maškā/), via Aramaic or another descendant of Proto-Semitic *mašk- (“skin”).

der

In that form of sunstroke where the person is struck down suddenly by a hot sun, the patient should be removed into the shade, and the douche of cold water being allowed to fall in a stream on the head and body, from a pump (or, as in India, from the mussuck, or other similar contrivance should be freely resorted to, the object being two-fold: to reduce the temperature of the over-heated centres, and to rouse them into action. During the assault on the White House piquet in the last Burmese war, numbers of men were struck down by the direct action of the sun during the month of April. They were laid out perfectly unconscious, in their red coats and stocks (they wore them in those days, 1852), but were recovered by the cold douche freely applied by the mussuck over the head and body.

1876 Joseph Fayrer, The London Medical Record vol. 4 page 183 = The Practitioner vol. 16 page 183

We had what was to us an extraordinary and fascinating experience in this trip of going down the Ravi River through strong rapids on mussucks, or inflated cowskins, and it was indeed a delightful river voyage of fifty miles through splendid hill scenery.

1907, Owen Tudor Burne, Memories, London: Edward Arnold, page 125:

(historical, Pakistan, India) an inflated skin-bag for water, variously given as from goats, from cows or from dogs, often by bheesties


B-town

Bollywood is also very commonly known as both tinsel town and B-town, neither of which is listed in the dictionaries.

2012, James Lambert, “Beyond Hobson-Jobson: A new lexicography for Indian English”, in World Englishes, page 302:

(India, slang) The Bollywood movie industry.


katwa

Borrowed from Hindi कटवा (kaṭvā), derived from Hindi काटना (kāṭnā, “to cut”), referring to the Muslim practice of circumcision.

(India, offensive, derogatory, religious slur) a Muslim man.

sulla

other insulting terms directed at Indian or Pakistani Muslims


rajpramukh

(India, historical) An appointed governor in certain provinces and states of India, from independence in 1947 until 1956.


dadagiri

Borrowed from Hindi दादागिरी (dādāgirī).

(India) goondaism; gang rule; intimidating behavior.


departmental store

en-noun

departmental store (plural departmental stores)

AEON Co (M) Bhd, the operator for the Japanese-owned hypermarket chain, had downsized its departmental store areas in several locations and refurbished the stores to concentrate on food items.

2019 July 15, Shaheera Aznam Shah, “Hypermarkets face a bleak future on waning appetite”, in The Malaysian Reserve:

The liquidator of the famed Robinson's departmental store has vehemently rebutted any inappropriate retrenchment of its employees, following the closing of its business, recently.

2021 January 26, Adrian David, “Robinson's liquidator rebutts inappropriate retrenchment allegations”, in New Straits Times:

(India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei) department store


mantri

2024 February 27, Sureshkumar, “HC junks DMK mantri acquittal, orders retrial in 2012 graft”, in The Times of India:


cholai

(India) illicit alcoholic drink; moonshine, usually made from rice, sometimes mixed with industrial alcohol


convent school

(India, proscribed) Any English-medium school.


manual scavenging

(India) The work of cleaning out pit latrines.


belna

Borrowed from Hindi बेलना (belnā), Punjabi [Term?], and Guyanese Creole English belna. First attested in 1868.

(India) A press or mill, particularly one used for grinding sugar cane.

Belnas are multipurpose tools which can crack open nuts and some Guyanese even use it to break ice into smaller pieces.

2020 August 6, Sarika Prasad, “What Do You Know About Belna and Chowki? (Traditional Cooking Tools From India)”, in Things Guyana, archived from the original on 2024-09-21:

(India, Caribbean) A rolling pin, typically used for flattening dough for roti.


lalla

(India, historical) A native clerk who writes the vernacular.

Where there are no tigers, the Lalla (scribe) becomes a shikaree.

There were Hindu lallas from the piece-goods market of Bulandshahr, smartly dressed in silks; there were Kashmiri Muhammadans from the local carpet factories, immaculately clad in white cotton; […]

(India, historical) A respectable merchant.


chotara

(India) A person of mixed race; half-caste.


saudagar

(India, historical) A merchant or trader, especially one selling European goods in a civil station or cantonment.


mahila

mahila police volunteers


pink tea

pink tea (countable and uncountable, plural pink teas)

From pink (“pale red; (rare) fashionable, smart”) + tea (“drink made by infusing dried leaves or buds of the tea plant in hot water; light midafternoon meal”).

compound

Coordinate term: red tea

(uncountable, India, Pakistan) A hot drink from the Indian subcontinent with a pink colour, made with gunpowder tea, baking soda, and milk.

վարդագույն թեյ

hot drink from the Indian subcontinent with a pink colour made with gunpowder tea, baking soda, and milk


potli

a potli of herbs used in cooking


Black Act

British East India Company
British East India Company

(India, historical, derogatory) Act XI., 1836, of the Indian Legislature, which placed European subjects on a level with natives as to their subjection in civil causes to the British East India Company's courts, including those under native judges.


rajgira

[ˈɾɑːd͡ʒ.ɡi.rɑː]

Borrowed from Hindi राजगिरा (rājgirā) and Marathi राजगिरा (rājgirā) of the same meaning.

(India) Any of the cereal plants called amaranth, and its seed used for food.


shoebite

en-noun

shoebite (countable and uncountable, plural shoebites)

The sepoys have suffered in many cases from shoebite or blistered feet, but they rarely require treatment in hospital. They are excused from wearing boots until the blister heals.

1874, Medical and Sanitary Report of the Native Army of Madras, page 133:

[…] states that in two of his cases the diagnosis was at first mistaken, the sore in one instance being considered primarily as a form of ringworm and in the other as an ordinary "shoebite."

1906, The Philippine Journal of Science, volumes 1-5, page 100:

The next day Lalitha complained of a shoebite and we spent thirty six francs by taxi to buy inexpensive open sandals!

2000, Alladi Ramakrishnan, The Alladi diary: Ekamra Nivas to MATSCIENCE, page 179:

(India) A blister caused by the chafing of a shoe or boot.


sitout

Here an entire village ambience has been recreated in every detail, with mud huts, courtyards with traditional terra cotta figures, wall paintings, a fishing corner with traditional nets, sitouts with swings, even a village chariot used for annual festivities, all put together not as a show piece but as a living tradition — complete with even a rustic couple lustily singing folk songs to the accompaniment of a typical folk musical instrument— it is a world in itself that one walks into, to get a taste of what village life could have been like, full of aesthetic touches in each and every artifact.

1999, Sakuntala Narasimhan, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay: The Romantic Rebel, page 97:

Accommodation comprises of elegantly designed independent AC cottages (Mappilapura), AC Executive/Deluxe suites (Malabar Suites) and Superior AC Rooms with sitouts which offer the glimpse of breath taking beauty of Kerala's natural landscapes.

2004, K. V. Ravisankar, Kerala Tourism Handbook 2005, page 99:

Its five themed en-suite rooms are large and most have funky little sitouts.

(chiefly India, Nigeria) An outdoor area that is set up for sitting, including a floor and seats, and possibly, but not necessarily having a roof, screens, or elevated platform.


NALSA

National Legal Services Authority
w:National Legal Services Authority

(India) Acronym of National Legal Services Authority.


puttun

Borrowed from Hindi पलटन (palṭan, “regiment”), itself from English platoon.


self-luminous

en-adj

self-luminous (comparative more self-luminous, superlative most self-luminous)

more self-luminous (comparative)
most self-luminous (superlative)

Finally, life emerges as a self-conscious, self-luminous Intelligence in man who not only thinks, feels and moves but is also conscious of being the subject, the knower of thinking, feeling and willing and controls, directs all these fluctuating States and processes of mind either towards the service of the self or towards bondage to mundane values.

1978, Nundo Lall Kundu, Constructive Philosophy of India: Tantra, page 116:

A cognition is an illuminator in respet of its content only and this content, as the illuminated, is always other than itself. But a cognition is also aware of it as an act. but this is only in distinction from its content as other than itself. In other words, it is never its own content (visaya) and is not self cognitive or self-luminous in that sense.

2000, Shyama Kumar Chattopadhyaya, The Philosophy of Sankar's Advaita Vedanta, page 267:

The self is self-luminous and so it does not need another cognition to become known.

2007, Śaṅkaṙa-bhāratī - Volume 32, page 162:

According to the Buddhist idealist, a cognition is self-luminous ; it apprehends itself but not an external object as there is no such object ; a cognition is not apprehended by the self because there is no self at all.

2013, Jadunath Sinha, Indian Psychology Perception, page 199:

(philosophy, India) Self-aware; knowable by itself.


narangi

It has a fruit called Sontara that resembles narangi but with better colour and sweeter.

1989, Mohammad Azhar Ansari, Geographical Glimpses of Medieval India, volume 3:

A few drinks of lemon juice or narangi juice will certainly give some relief in acute menorrhagia.

2006, Dr. Rajeev Sharma, Herbal Home Remedies, page 42:

Kamraks and narangis, are in season during winter; ambles, badhals, mountain grape, phalsas, labhiras, during summer, and kaits, pakars, karmar, jamans, karaundas, jhanbiris, during the rains.

2018, Versha Gupta, Botanical Culture of Mughal India: (Ad 1526–1707):


IIITian

(India) An alumnus of one of the 5 International Institutes of Information Technology.


IIIT

w:International Institutes of Information Technology

(education, India) Initialism of International Institutes of Information Technology (one of a group of nationally recognized autonomous engineering institutes of India.)


khurli

(India, Pakistan) A manger or trough for cattle, made from mud.


peeloo

Salvadora persica
Salvadora persica#Translingual

(India, Pakistan) Salvadora persica (toothbrush tree).


bhujia

From Hindustani भुजिया / بھجیا (bhujiyā), ultimately from Sanskrit भृज्जति (bhṛjjati, “roasts, fries”). Related to fry and bhurji.

der

(India) A crispy Indian snack made from moth beans, gram flour, and spices.


kothi

(India) In the culture of the Indian subcontinent, an effeminate man who takes on a passive or female gender role in same-sex relationships.


swadeshist

(India) One who supports a policy of swadeshi.


raajkumaar

Borrowed from Hindi राजकुमार (rājkumār).


next tomorrow

(India, West Africa) On the day after tomorrow.


lootie

From a derivation of Hindi लूटना (lūṭnā, “to loot”).

Hyder Ali's stragglers, or looties as they were called, committed such repeated depradations upon all the European habitations, even to the edge of the works of the fort, that the proprietors removed everything valuable […] .

1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 93

(India, chiefly in the plural) An irregular soldier whose main object was plunder; a marauder.


hairfall

(India) hair loss; the visible falling out of hair.


sattu

Borrowed from Hindi सत्तू (sattū), from Sanskrit सक्तु (saktu).

(India, Pakistan) Flour made from a mixture of ground pulses and cereals.


NCERT

w:National Council of Educational Research and Training

(India) Acronym of National Council of Educational Research and Training.


Tiranga

Transliteration of Hindi तिरंगा (tiraṅgā).


plate meal

(India) A full meal with a fixed set of dishes as components, often but not necessarily served at a restaurant.


Mofussilite

(India) An inhabitant of the mofussil regions.


juwaub

These offices are often to be filled up, their untiring perseverance occasioning the secession of a member, who, after having sustained repeated juwaubs, is accepted at last, […]

1836, The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China, and Australasia, page 97:

(India, dated, British military slang) A formal refusal.


juwaub

en-verb

juwaub (third-person singular simple present juwaubs, present participle juwaubing, simple past and past participle juwaubed)

juwaubs (present singular third-person)
juwaubing (participle present)
juwaubed (participle past)
juwaubed (past)

(transitive, India, dated, British military slang) To refuse or rebuff.


butcha

(India, historical) The young of any animal.

(India, historical, slang, by extension) A child.


Param Vir Chakra

(chiefly India, military) The highest military decoration awarded in India.


pitarah

(India, historical) A box or basket for carrying clothing.


ajinomoto

monosodium glutamate
monosodium glutamate

(Singapore, India, Myanmar, Brunei, Malaysia, Pakistan) monosodium glutamate


ravinous

en-adj

ravinous (comparative more ravinous, superlative most ravinous)

more ravinous (comparative)
most ravinous (superlative)

It is, therefore, necessary to control the spread of ravines, as well as to reclaim the ravinous area wherever practicable.

2018, Jagdish Chander Dagar, Anil Kumar Singh, Ravine Lands: Greening for Livelihood and Environmental Security, page 311:


chitti

From Tamil சித்தி (citti) (aunt, stepmother) (father's second wife, maternal younger aunt, paternal younger uncle's wife).

gloss

(India, informal) Alternative form of chitthi


chitthi

(India, informal) aunty; a friendly older motherly woman


cattlehead

en-noun

cattlehead (plural cattlehead or cattleheads)

cattlehead (plural)
cattleheads (plural)

From cattle + head. Interestingly, both are doublets from Proto-Indo-European *kauput- (“head”), through Latin caput (“head”) and from Old English hēafd-, hēafod (“head; top; source; chief”), itself from Proto-Germanic *haubudą (“head”), respectively.

inh

Even assuming that our 50-million Muslims eat up 50-million cattle-heads a year at the rate of one cattlehead per human head per year, we shall still have millions and millions of cattle living and multiplying with our food inside them.

1963, Mother India, volume 29, page 14, column 2:

The reasons for death were more or less similar to cattleheads. In the case of poultry, in all, 1312 died mainly due to Ranikhet. These deaths of livestock comprised 5, 9.6 and 19.5 percent respectively of the present stock of cattleheads, goat and poultry (Tables – 14 and 15).

1984, Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development, Effects of Flood (1984) in Bangladesh: Survey of Nine Villages in Comilla, page 16:

The mobile veterinary unit had been providing health facilities to the ailing cattlehead in the whole of Thar.

The Local Government Engineering Bureau (LGEB) has built 2 killas as shelter for cattlehead.

1992, Raana Haider, A. Atiq Rahman, Saleemul Huq, editors, Cyclone '91 Revisited: A Follow-up Study, Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies, page 12:

As a result, most farming families now cannot keep more than a pair of cattlehead each, the bare minimum for operating a plough to till the land.

1995, Bara Parang: The Tale of the Developmental Refugees of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, →ISBN, page 65:

Whenever a cattlehead was killed by the tiger, the men sprayed these poisonous chemicals copiously on the carcass and even kept the semi-solid balls of this substance namely carbofuran, B.H.C. Gamma, Lindane, Lintaf and Hepta Chlore etc. inside the fleshy part of the animal.

1995, Rahul Shukla, Killing Grounds: The Saga of Encounters in Wild, Siddhi Books, page 114:

India is perhaps a rare country having one cattlehead per two persons.

2006, Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development, Collection of Foundation Day & Lovraj Kumar Memorial Lectures, “Cattlewealth and Fish”, page 244:

30 and 31 July 1991: Area Affected: Betul, Dewas, Indore and Ujjain; Casualties: 22 persons killed; 150 cattleheads perished; Damages: One house collapsed; Chandora dam damaged and Sapana dam breached.

2006, SC Bhatt, Gopal K. Bhargava, editors, Land and People of Indian States and Union Territories: Madhya Pradesh (volume 15), India: Kalpaz Publications, →ISBN, page 470:

(India) head of cattle; a neat, a beef, a single bovine


kulhad

(India) A small clay teacup, typically served at railway stations


drawal

en-noun

drawal (countable and uncountable, plural drawals)

A back-formation from withdrawal, as if draw + -al.

Nothing contained in Rule 4 or Rule 5 shall apply to drawal made out of funds held in Exchange Earners' Foreign Company [EEFC] accounts of the remitter.

2003 August 14, Sona Kapila, editor, […] Money, Banking, and Finance, volume 44, Academic Foundation, →ISBN, page 138:

This would ensure easy drawal of pension from any nearest bank and hence, the aged would get relieved from the painstaking and difficult task of coming over to treasuries physically every month for drawal of their pension or arrears.

2005, Nab Kishore Behura, Ramesh P. Mohanty, Aged in Changing Social System: Their Problems, Discovery Publishing House, →ISBN, page 113:

Limit to be fixed on the basis of operational land holding, cropping pattern, and scale of finance. Each drawal to be repaid within a maximum period of 12 months.

2015 February 16, Bharath Seeman, Bank Exam Pedia Dec 2014, R.A.C.E Institute, page 81:

(especially India) The act of drawing upon; a withdrawal.


cinema hall

(India, Myanmar) A big room where films are shown; movie theater.


kubber

From Hindi ख़बर (xabar) / Urdu خَبَر (xabar), from Persian خبر, from Arabic خَبَر (ḵabar). Doublet of gabber.

“The kubber is good, Sahib,” replied the veteran, […]


paisa vasool

Borrowed from Hindi पैसा वसूल (paisā vasūl, literally “money recovered”).

bor

Even though a film is well mounted, however much these magazines may bolster it up, if it is not paisa vasool, and pampers the people's values and devotions, they dump it.

2002, Jacob Srampickal, Messages Or Massages? Media Matters in India Today, page 46:

I usually look forward to storms. It's a once-in-a-lifetime moment... For me, it's paisa vasool. I get my money back if I go through a storm like that. Otherwise I can always stay at home, you know what I mean.

2019 January 17, Shreya Dhoundial, “It Was 'Paisa Vasool': Undeterred by Injuries, Navy Officer Abhilash Tomy is Ready to Test Waters Again”, in News18:

On a more serious note, the thrill, the rush of a ‘fight or flight’ situation is unmatchable. And it has almost always made for some 'paisa-vasool' moments when translated on screen.

2020 June 28, Anvita Singh, “Into the Night: A lockdown gift from Netflix”, in The Indian Express:

(India, idiomatic) bang for the buck; cost-effective, value for money, worthwhile

(by extension) appealing heavily to the masses.


chillumchee

Borrowed from Hindustani चिलमची (cilamcī) / چِلَمْچِی (cilamcī).


kamalam

From Sanskrit कमलम् (kamalam), from कमल (kamala, “lotus”). Coined by the government of Gujarat, from looking like a lotus blossom, since they did not like the term dragon fruit.

(India, South Asia, Gujarat) Synonym of dragonfruit, pitaya, pitahaya (a fruit)


chuhra

From Hindustani چُوہْڑا (cūhṛā) / चूहड़ा (cūhṛā).

Saai

people of Jesus; labourer; sweeper; Pakistani slur against Christians, meaning but also as or

(India, Pakistan, offensive) Any lower-caste person.


Shri

From Sanskrit श्री (śrī), possibly through a modern Indian language. Compare Bengali শ্রী (sri), Gujarati શ્રી (śrī), Tamil ஶ்ரீ (śrī), Hindi, Nepali, and Marathi श्री (śrī), Malayalam ശ്രീ (śrī).

The master craftsman received a National Award from the then president of India Shri APJ Abdul Kalam.

(India) A title of respect used before male names, Mr.

Shri Rama

Shri Guru Granth Sahib

(India) An honorific title prefixed to the names of deities, holy persons, holy books or sacred places.


Rashtrapati

Transliteration of Hindi राष्ट्रपति (rāṣṭrapti).


Rashtrapati

Rashtrapati Bhavan


palayam

(India, historical) Alternative spelling of pollam


ladies' special

en-noun

ladies' special (plural ladies' specials)

(India) A train, bus or tram for the use of female commuters only.


chandala

From Sanskrit चण्डाल (caṇḍāla) or चाण्डाल (cāṇḍāla).

(India) A person involved in the disposal of corpses, traditionally a lower-caste Hindu and considered untouchable.


campoo

(India, military, historical) A kind of infantry brigade.


vilwa

From Sanskrit बिल्व (bilva), विल्व (vilva) or descendant terms in modern Indian languages.


tahkhana

From Urdu تہہ خانہ (“basement; cellar”) / Hindi तहख़ाना (tahkhana).