alphabet

From Middle English alphabete, borrowed from Late Latin alphabētum, from Ancient Greek ἀλφάβητος (alphábētos), from ἄλφα (álpha) and βῆτα (bêta), the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, Α (A) and Β (B), lowercase forms α and β. The Greek names derived from aleph, the name of the Phoenician letter 𐤀 (ʾ, “ox”) and beth, the name of the letter 𐤁 (b, “house”), so called because they were pictograms of those objects, having developed from the Egyptian hieroglyphs F1 (𓃾) and pr (𓉐).
 Doublet of alfabeto.

We realize the fact that the alphabet A has been used in many world scripts as a vowel with the others AEIOU.

2002, Eugene E. Dike, African myth of creation in African form of writing, Monsenstein und Vannerdat, →ISBN, page 30:

There are 26 alphabets in English.

2005, Satinder Bal Gupta, Comprehensive Discrete Mathematics & Structures, Laxmi Publications, page 237:

Tamil got 247 alphabets you know. Got two R-eh, got three L, got two N you know.

2007, Elangovan, P, Singapore, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 83:

(India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia) An individual letter of an alphabet; an alphabetic character.


winter

en-noun

winter (countable and uncountable, plural winters)

From Middle English winter, from Old English winter, from Proto-Germanic *wintruz (“winter”). Cognate with West Frisian winter (“winter”), Dutch winter (“winter”), German Winter (“winter”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian vinter (“winter”), Icelandic vetur (“winter”).

Note that the Citie of Goa is the principall place of all the Oriental India, and the winter thus beginneth the 15 of May, with very great raine.

The Winter heere beginneth about the first of Iune and dureth till the twentieth of September, but not with continuall raines as at Goa, but for some sixe or seuen dayes every change and full, with much wind, thunder and raine.

In Winter (when they rarely stir) they have a Mumjama, or Wax Cloth to throw over it […]

The mere breadth of these mountains divides summer from winter, that is to say, the season of fine weather from the rainy […] all that is meant by winter in India is the time of the year when the clouds […] are driven violently by the winds against the mountains, […]


crap

en-verb

crap (third-person singular simple present craps, present participle crapping, simple past and past participle crapped)

craps (present singular third-person)
crapping (participle present)
crapped (participle past)
crapped (past)

From Middle English crappe, also in plural: crappys, craps (“chaff; buckwheat”), from Middle French crape, from Old French crappe, crapin (“chaff”) (compare Medieval Latin crappa pl, also crapinum), from Old Dutch krappen (“to cut off, pluck off”) (whence Middle Dutch crappe, crap (“a chop, cutlet”), whence Dutch krip (“a steak”)). Related to crop.

crap on

to talk at length in a foolish or boring way

Don't try to crap me: I know you're lying.

(India, mildly vulgar, slang, transitive) To bullshit.


bunk

en-verb

bunk (third-person singular simple present bunks, present participle bunking, simple past and past participle bunked)

bunks (present singular third-person)
bunking (participle present)
bunked (participle past)
bunked (past)

19th century, of uncertain origin; perhaps from previous "to occupy a bunk" meaning, with connotations of a hurried departure, as if on a ship.

The naughty boys decided to bunk school and visit the comic shop.

(British, India) To fail to attend school or work without permission; to play truant (usually as in 'to bunk off').

бягам от училище

to fail to attend school without permission


country

[ˈkʰʌnt̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷi]

From Middle English contre, contree, contreie, from Old French contree, from Vulgar Latin (terra) contrāta (“(land) lying opposite; (land) spread before”), derived from Latin contra (“against, opposite”). Cognate with Scots kintra. Unrelated to county. Displaced native English land in some of its senses.

We have seen that the Company manufactured silk stuffs at three of its Residencies, but from country-wound silk.

A reference to the Annual Administration Reports of the Department of Horse-breeding Operations […] will allow of the opinion being arrived at, that the breed of country horses under the present regime is steadily improving.

1884, Journal of the United Service Institution of India, page 185:

Country harness costs nearly as much, lasts half the time, and is in every respect inferior. It is understood that the only reason is that the Court desires to improve and encourage Indian manufactures.

1937, Brigadier-General H. A. Young, The East India Company’s Arsenals & Manufactories:

(India, historical) Originating in India rather than being imported from Europe or elsewhere.


standard

→ Catalan: estàndard

→ Danish: standard

→ French: standard

→ Italian: standard

→ Polish: standard

→ Spanish: estándar

→ Turkish: standart

From Middle English standard, from Old French estandart (“gathering place, battle flag”), from Frankish *standahard (literally “stand firm, stand hard”), equivalent to stand + -ard. Alternative etymology derives the second element from Frankish *oʀd (“point, spot, place”) (compare Old French ordé (“pointed”), Old English ord (“point, source, vanguard”), German Standort (“location, place, site, position, base”, literally “standing-point”)). Merged with Middle English standar, stander, standere (“flag, banner”, literally “stander”), equivalent to stand + -er. More at stand, hard, ord.

cog

I finished my twelfth standard with less than stellar marks.

2020, Avni Doshi, Burnt Sugar, Hamish Hamilton, page 179:

I am in fifth standard.

A principle or example or measure used for comparison.

(India) Grade level in primary education.


can

en-verb

can (third-person singular simple present can, present participle (by suppletion) able, simple past could, past participle (obsolete except in adjectival use) couth)

can (present singular third-person)
able (participle present suppletive)
could (past)
couth (obsolete participle past)

From Middle English can, first and third person singular of connen, cunnen (“to be able, know how”), from Old English can(n), first and third person singular of cunnan (“to know how”), from Proto-West Germanic *kunnan, from Proto-Germanic *kunnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (whence also know). Doublet of con. See also: canny, cunning.

the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must

Importance of Identifying Leaf: Identify Plants: If we can able to identify leaf, we can easily able to identify plants.

2011 November 29, Tai-hoon Kim, Hojjat Adeli, Carlos Ramos, Byeong-Ho Kang, Signal Processing, Image Processing and Pattern Recognition: International Conferences, SIP 2011, Held as Part of the Future Generation Information Technology Conference, FGIT 2011, in Conjunction with GDC 2011, Jeju Island, Korea, December 8-10, 2011. Proceedings, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 114:

Children in need of care and protection can allowed to be placed in foster care based on the orders of the CWC. The selection of the foster family is based on the family's ability, intent, capacity, and prior experience of taking care[…]

2018 February 15, Asha Bajpai, Child Rights in India: Law, Policy, and Practice, Oxford University Press, →ISBN:

It can possible to design the ruleset refreshes that allow them to subsequently run at precise interludes and these keep informed.

2020 May 22, Pardeep Kumar, Vasaki Ponnusamy, Vishal Jain, Industrial Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems: Transforming the Conventional to Digital: Transforming the Conventional to Digital, IGI Global, →ISBN, page 226:

(India, nonstandard, proscribed) To be (followed by a word like able, possible, allowed).


bomb

From French bombe, from Italian bomba, from Latin bombus (“a booming sound”), from Ancient Greek βόμβος (bómbos, “booming, humming, buzzing”), imitative of the sound itself. Doublet of bombe. Compare boom.

onomatopoeic

imitative

(social) Something highly effective or attractive.

(chiefly British, India, slang) A very attractive woman.


ground

en-noun

ground (countable and uncountable, plural grounds)

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *gʰrem-der.
Proto-Germanic *grunduz
Old English grund
Middle English ground
English ground
From Middle English ground, from Old English grund, from Proto-Germanic *grunduz. Cognate with West Frisian grûn, Dutch grond and German Grund.

etymon

cut the ground from under someone's feet

know one's ass from a hole in the ground

know one's head from a hole in the ground

know the difference between one's ass and a hole in the ground

It is sub-divided into annas (or 16ths), of 3,600 square feet each; or when the land is for building purposes, into grounds (munnies) of 1/24 of a cawny each, as in the town of Madras.

1885, Manual of the Administration of the Madras Presidency, page 515:

(India, obsolete) Synonym of munny (“land measure”)


jack

→ Brazilian Portuguese: jegue

→ European Portuguese: jaque

Transferative use of the personal name Jack.
(cricket: eleventh batsman): An allusion to the jack in playing cards, which follows the 10.

náłbiil bijaadbee dahnádidlohí

device for raising and supporting a heavy object

jekker

military: coarse medieval coat of defense

I hope to God his theories will not unman him in action, that he will not be musing and refining when he should be leading the Jacks […]

1855, William Delafield Arnold, Oakfield: Or, Fellowship in the East, page 280:

A man.
(India, historical, slang) A sepoy.


xerox

Genericized trademark from Xerox (“a photocopier”), from xerography, from Ancient Greek ξηρός (xērós, “dry”) and γραφή (graphḗ, “writing”).

Hand me that xerox, would you?

There were twenty pictures in the envelope, xeroxes but clear enough. They documented the scene pretty much as I imagined it.

2009, David Ebershoff, The 19th Wife, Random House, →ISBN, page 142:

(Philippines, India, dated in Canada, US, colloquial, informal) A photocopy.


xerox

en-verb

xerox (third-person singular simple present xeroxes, present participle xeroxing, simple past and past participle xeroxed)

xeroxes (present singular third-person)
xeroxing (participle present)
xeroxed (participle past)
xeroxed (past)

I xeroxed the report for all the people at the meeting.

(Philippines, India, dated in Canada, US, colloquial, informal) To make a paper copy or copies by means of a photocopier.


fuck

fuck (third-person singular simple present fucks, present participle fucking, simple past and past participle fucked)

fucks (present singular third-person)
fucking (participle present)
fucked (participle past)
fucked (past)
fuck (infinitive)

Flen flyys
Slate.com
University of Minnesota Press

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ-
Proto-Germanic *fukkōną
Old English *fuccian
Middle English *fukken
English fuck
From Middle English *fukken, probably of Germanic origin: either from Old English *fuccian or Old Norse *fukka, both from Proto-Germanic *fukkōną, from Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ- (“to strike, punch, stab”). Compare windfucker and its debated etymology.
Possibly attested in a 772 C.E. charter that mentions a place called Fuccerham, which may mean "ham (“home”) of the fucker" or "hamm (“pasture”) of the fucker"; a John le Fucker in a record from 1278 may just be a variant of Fulcher; compare Fucher, Foker, etc. The earliest unambiguous use of the word in a clearly sexual context, in any stage of English, appears to be in court documents from Cheshire, England, which mention a man called Roger Fuckebythenavele (possibly tongue-in-cheek or directly suggestive of a depraved sexual act) on 8 December 1310. It was first listed in a dictionary in 1598. Scots fuk or fuck is attested slightly earlier, probably reinforcing the Northern Germanic/Scandinavian origin theory. From 1500 onward, the word has been in continual use, superseding jape and sard and largely displacing swive. See windfucker and fuckwind for more information.
A range of folk-etymological backronyms, such as "fornication under consent of the king" and "for unlawful carnal knowledge", are all demonstrably false.
Sense 10, from related sense feck.

der

The sergeant fucked me upside down.

(Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, vulgar, transitive, military slang) To scold.


tortoise

From Middle English tortuse, tortuce, tortuge, from Medieval Latin tortuca, of uncertain origin. May be from Late Latin tartarūcha, from tartarūchus, from Ancient Greek ταρταροῦχος (tartaroûkhos, “holder of Tartaros, Tartarus, the land of the dead in ancient stories”), because it used to be thought that tortoises and turtles came from the underworld and they were commonly paired with such infernal beasts; see Τάρταρος (Tártaros). Or, from Latin tortus (“twisted”). The French-looking Modern English spelling tortoise may be influenced by porpoise. Displaced native Old English byrdling.

Any of various land-dwelling reptiles, of the family Testudinidae (chiefly Canada, US) or the order Testudines (chiefly UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, India), whose body is enclosed in a shell (carapace plus plastron). The animal can withdraw its head and four legs partially into the shell, providing some protection from predators.


SC

en-noun

SC (countable and uncountable, plural SCs)

Scheduled Caste
w:Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes


UT

(India) Abbreviation of Uttarakhand, a state of India.


IA

Indian Army at the Encyclopedia of India

Indian Airlines at the Encyclopædia Britannica

Your home in the sky. In the coming weeks, Indian Airlines (IA) may consider changing its slogan to something more down to earth. For the airline itself may be running for shelter when it announces its results for 2001-2 sometime next month.

2002, Rohit Saran, “Aviation - Indian Airlines”, in India Today, volume 27, Thomson Living Media India Limited, page 50:

(India, initialism) Initialism of Indian Airlines.


CM

CM (countable and uncountable, plural CMs)

Sense "commercial" is a borrowing from Japanese CM (CM, “promotional video”), from English commercial + message.

Coordinate term: PM (“prime minister”)

(India, Pakistan) Initialism of chief minister.


all

From Middle English all, from Old English eall, from Proto-West Germanic *all, from Proto-Germanic *allaz, of uncertain origin but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“beyond, other”). Cognate with West Frisian al (“all”), Dutch al (“all”), Scots a' (“all”), German all (“all”), Swedish all (“all”), Norwegian all (“all”), Icelandic allur (“all”), Welsh holl (“all”), Irish uile (“all”), Lithuanian aliái (“all, each, every”).
The dialectal sense “all gone” is a calque of German alle. The use in who all, where all etc. also has equivalents in German (see alles).

der

Q. Now, then, when you started to go to stake the claims, who all went along?

1904 October 10, Shea v. Nilima, [US] Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in 1905, Reports Containing the Cases Determined in All the Circuits from the Organization of the Courts, page 266

A. I and Johan Peter Johansen, Otto Greiner, and Thorulf Kjelsberg.

"I mean, you could have called us—collect, o'course—jes' to let us know how-all it's a-goin'."

1998, Paul D. Staudohar, editor, Football's Best Short Stories, section 107:

"Where all did he go? What exactly was his job?" Gary shrugged and produced a weak laugh. "I reckon the Middle East. Ain't that where all the oil is?"

2002, Richard Haddock, Arkalalah, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 73:

"Do you ever ask me what I want to see? Or ask me about where all I've gone, who all I've met, what all I've done? Never. Not for one second. And why? Because you don't give two hoops about me."

2011, Moni Mohsin, Tender Hooks, Random House India, →ISBN:

(chiefly Southern US, South Midland US, Midland US, Scotland, Northern Ireland, India) Used after who, what, where, how and similar words, either without changing their meaning, or indicating that one expects that they cover more than one element, e.g. that "Who all attended?" is more than one person. (Some dialects only allow this to follow some words and not others.)


boss

→ Cantonese: 波士 (bo¹ si⁶⁻²)

→ Danish: boss

→ French: boss

→ Indonesian: bos

→ Italian: boss

→ Japanese: ボス (bosu)

→ Korean: 보스 (boseu)

From Dutch baas, from Middle Dutch baes (“master of a household, friend”), from Old Dutch *baso (“uncle, kinsman”), from Proto-West Germanic *baswō, from Proto-Germanic *baswô (“uncle”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *ba-, *bō- (“father, older male relative”), source also of the English terms babe, boy, bub, bully. Cognate with Middle Low German bās (“supervisor, foreman”), Old Frisian bas (“master”), hence Saterland Frisian Boas (“boss”), Old High German basa (“father's sister, cousin”), hence German Base (“aunt, cousin”). Originally a term of respect used to address an older relative. Later, in New Amsterdam, it began to mean a person in charge who is not a master. The representation of Dutch -aa- by English -o- is due to the older unrounded pronunciation of this letter, which is still used in North America and parts of Ireland, but was formerly found in some British accents as well. The video game sense is borrowed from Japanese ボス (bosu), in turn from English boss.

cog

Yes, boss.

(informal, especially India, MLE and Philippines) A term of address to a man.


dub

(India, historical) A small copper coin once used in India.


matka

en-noun

matka (countable and uncountable, plural matkas)

Alternatively, instead of cooking in a matka, wrap the vegetable mixture (without lettuce leaves) in aluminium foil and bake in a hot oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 1 hour.

2022, Vijay Karna, The Great Indian Cook Book, page 185:

(India, countable, uncountable) A kind of coarse silk from the Indian subcontinent, mainly produced from pierced (moth-damaged) cocoons.


slang

slang (countable and uncountable, plural slangs)

→ Dutch: slang

→ Esperanto: slango

→ Estonian: släng

→ Finnish: slangi

→ German: Slang

→ Hebrew: סְלֶנְג (sleng)

→ Hungarian: szleng

→ Indonesian: slank

→ Malay: slanga

→ Polish: slang

→ Russian: сленг (sleng)

1756, meaning "special vocabulary of tramps or thieves", origin unknown. Possibly derived from a North Germanic source, related to Norwegian Nynorsk slengenamn (“nickname”), slengja kjeften (“to abuse verbally”, literally “to sling one's jaw”), related to Icelandic slengja (“to sling, throw, hurl”), Old Norse slyngva (“to sling”). Not believed to be connected with language or lingo.

unk

origin unknown

cog

Such attempts were made even more aggressive by the fact that these local women were known for picking fights easily and using slangs to verbally abuse their neighbours.

2021, Sadan Jha, Dev Nath Pathak, Amiya Kumar Das, Neighbourhoods in Urban India: In Between Home and the City, page 82:


pants

en-noun

pants pl (plural only, attributive pant)

desctree

→ Japanese: パンツ (pantsu)
→ English: pantsu
→ Mandarin: 胖次 (pàngcì)
→ Korean: 빤스 (ppanseu)

Etymology tree
Ancient Greek Παντελεήμων (Panteleḗmōn)bor.
Spanish Pantaleónder.
Italian Pantaloneder.
French pantalonbor.
English pantaloon
English pantaloons
English pants
Shortened from pantaloons (“trousers”): borrowed from French pantalon, itself derived from Italian Pantalone, one of the principal characters found in commedia dell'arte, who wore tight trousers. Doublet of pantsu. The verb is from the noun.

by the seat of one's pants

drive by the seat of one’s pants, fly by the seat of one’s pants

“But they cover the legs,” Joseph explained. “That is the only reason my people wear pants: to cover the legs in the winter, or when traveling through rough country, full of thorns. In warm weather, or in open country, pants are unnecessary, uncomfortable, and foolish.”

1933, Kenneth Roberts, Rabble in Arms, published 1996, page 220:

It's in the evening after dark when the blackleg miner creeps to work. With his moleskin pants and his dirty shirt, there goes the blackleg miner.

1970 June 14, traditional (lyrics and music), “The Blackleg Miner” (track 4), in Hark! The Village Wait, performed by Steeleye Span:

Then he gave me a last desperate push and I tripped over the shorts caught around my ankles and fell down. I tried to pull my pants up with my boxing gloves but without success.[…]In those days nobody wore underpants and I was bare-arsed and fancy free in front of everyone.

1989, Bryce Courtenay, The Power of One, Penguin, published 2006, page 427:

Look for pants with reinforced seats and knees and full-length side zippers that make it possible to put the pants on while you are wearing boots, crampons, skis, or snowshoes.

2010, Ronald C. Eng, editor, Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills, 8th edition, US: The Mountaineers Books, page 24:

I rolled up the legs of the pants, then I went back into the trees.

2005, Octavia E. Butler, Fledgling, page 12:

The episode also opens with an inspired bit of business for Homer, who blithely refuses to acquiesce to an elderly neighbor’s utterly reasonable request that he help make the process of selling her house easier by wearing pants when he gallivants about in front of windows, throw out his impressive collection of rotting Jack-O-Lanterns from previous Halloweens and take out his garbage, as it’s attracting wildlife (cue moose and Northern Exposure theme song).

2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club:

Taylor was seen nearby and had a three foot machete down his pants.

2014 January 13, “Blackburn man hid machete down his trousers”, in The Lancashire Telegraph:

(chiefly Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Philippines, Singapore, Northern England) An outer garment that covers the body from the waist downwards, covering each leg separately, usually as far as the ankles; trousers.

broek

garment covering the body from the waist downwards


tuition

en-noun

tuition (countable and uncountable, plural tuitions)

/t͡ʃʉːˈɪʃən/

From Old French [Term?], from Latin tuitiō (“guard, protection, defense”), from tuēri (“to watch, guard, see, observe”). Compare intuition, tutor.

обучение

tuition classes

Tuition in the past was like taking medicine and you sent children for it only if they were doing poorly in a subject.

2021 August 18, Qiu Guanhua, “Forum: Heavy reliance on tuition to boost performance is not healthy”, in The Straits Times, Singapore, archived from the original on 2022-12-28:

The training or instruction provided by a teacher or tutor.

(India, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia) Paid private classes taken outside of formal education; tutoring. (also used attributively)


pain

en-verb

pain (third-person singular simple present pains, present participle paining, simple past and past participle pained)

pains (present singular third-person)
paining (participle present)
pained (participle past)
pained (past)

From Middle English peyne, payne, from Old French and Anglo-Norman peine, paine, from Latin poena (“punishment, pain”), from Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ, “bloodmoney, weregild, fine, price paid, penalty”), from Proto-Hellenic *kʷoinā́, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷoynéh₂ (“payment”) (whence also Proto-Slavic *cěnà (“price”)).
Doublet of peine. Compare Danish pine, Norwegian Bokmål pine, German Pein, Dutch pijn, Afrikaans pyn. See also pine (the verb). Partly displaced native Old English sār (whence Modern English sore).

der

Please help me, I am paining hard.

Oh my head is aching, oh Lord Damodara [Visnu], give me "kazhi". The neck is paining, oh Lord Kamadeva give me relief. My chest is paining, oh Lord Madhava, give me relief.

2001, Sarah Caldwell, quoting C. Choondal, “Waves of Beauty, Rivers of Blood: Constructing the Goddess in Kerala”, in Tracy Pintchman, editor, Seeking Mahādevī: Constructing the Identities of the Hindu Great Goddess, page 104:

A lady visited the doctor, a general physician and complained of a lot of pain.
The doctor asked her where she experienced pain.
The lady touched her right knee and said, 'It is paining here doctor.'
Then she touched her stomach and said, 'It is paining here too doctor.'

2009, Nithyananda Paramahamsa, Bliss Is the Goal and the Path, page 124:

(intransitive, India) To feel pain; to hurt.


myself

From Middle English myself, meself, from Old English mē selfum and similar phrases, equivalent to me + self, later partly reinterpreted as my + self / -self. Cognate with Scots mysel, mysell (“myself”), West Frisian mysels (“myself”), Dutch mijzelf (“myself”), German mich selbst, mir selbst (“myself”), Norwegian Bokmål meg selv (“myself”).

Myself John.

(India, Pakistan, nonstandard) my name is...


circle

Pitcairn-Norfolk: sirkil

From Middle English circle, cercle, from Old French cercle and Latin circulus, diminutive of Latin circus (“circle, circus”), from Ancient Greek κίρκος (kírkos, “circle, ring”), related to Old English hring (“ring”). Compare also Old English ċircul (“circle, zodiac”), which came from the same Latin source.

دَائِرَة

geometry: set of all points in a plane within a radius

He arrived at the lakefront and drove around the circle where the amusement park and beach used to be when he was a kid[…]

2011, Charles E. Webb, Downfall and Freedom, page 120:

(South Africa, Philippines, India) A traffic circle or roundabout.


fly

From Middle English flye (“flying, flight”), from Old English flyge (“flying, flight”), from Proto-Germanic *flugiz.

дюкян

strip that hides the opening of trousers/pants or underpants

[T]he main part of the operation of pitching the tent, consisting of raising the flies, may be performed, and shelter afforded, without the walls, &c., being present.

1810, Thomas H. Williamson, The East India Vade-Mecum, page 452:

The cavalcade drew up in line, / Pitch'd the marquee, and went to dine. / The bearers and the servants lie / Under the shelter of the fly.

1816, The Grand Master, or Adventures of Qui Hi, page 152:

After I had changed my riding-habit for my one other gown, I came out to join the general under the tent-fly.

1885, Elizabeth Bacon Custer, Boots and Saddles:

(India, obsolete) The sloping or roof part of the canvas of a tent.


stay

en-verb

stay (third-person singular simple present stays, present participle staying, simple past and past participle stayed or (obsolete) staid)

stays (present singular third-person)
staying (participle present)
stayed (participle past)
stayed (past)
staid (obsolete participle past)
staid (obsolete past)

From Middle English steyen, staien, from Old French estayer, estaier (“to fix, prop up, support, stay”), from estaye, estaie (“a prop, stay”), from Middle Dutch staeye (“a prop, stay”), a contracted form of staede, stade (“a prop, stay, help, aid”) (compare Middle Dutch staeyen, staeden (“to make firm, stay, support, hold still, stabilise”)), from Proto-West Germanic *stadi (“a site, place, location, standing”), from Proto-Germanic *stadiz (“a standing, place”), from Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂tis (“standing”). Influenced by Old English stæġ ("a stay, rope"; see below). Cognate with Old English stede, stæde (“a place, spot, locality, fixed position, station, site, standing, status, position of a moving body, stopping, standing still, stability, fixity, firmness, steadfastness”), Swedish stödja (“to prop, support, brace, hold up, bolster”), Icelandic stöðug (“continuous, stable”). More at stead, steady.
Sense of "remain, continue" may be due to later influence from Old French ester, esteir (“to stand, be, continue, remain”), from Latin stāre (“stand”), from the same Proto-Indo-European root above; however, derivation from this root is untenable based on linguistic and historical grounds.
An alternative etymology derives Old French estaye, estaie, from Frankish *stakā, *stakō (“stake, post”), from Proto-Germanic *stakô (“stake, bar, stick, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“rod, pole, stick”), making it cognate with Old English staca (“pin, stake”), Old English stician (“to stick, be placed, lie, remain fixed”). Cognate with Albanian shtagë (“a long stick, a pole”). More at stake, stick.

cog

the family that lays together stays together

the family that prays together stays together

the more things change, the more they stay the same

what happens on the road stays on the road

Hey, where do you stay at?

(intransitive, Scotland, South Africa, India, Southern US, African-American Vernacular, Singapore, colloquial) To live; reside.


heavy

en-adv

heavy (comparative more heavy, superlative most heavy)

more heavy (comparative)
most heavy (superlative)

From Middle English hevy, heviȝ, from Old English hefiġ, hefeġ, hæfiġ (“heavy; important, grave, severe, serious; oppressive, grievous; slow, dull”), from Proto-West Germanic *habīg (“heavy, hefty, weighty”), from Proto-Germanic *habīgaz (“heavy, hefty, weighty”), from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- (“to take, grasp, hold”).
Cognates:
Cognate with Scots hevy, havy, heavy (“heavy”), Dutch hevig (“violent, severe, intense, acute”), Middle Low German hēvich (“violent, fierce, intense”), German hebig (compare heftig (“fierce, severe, intense, violent, heavy”)), Icelandic höfugur (“heavy, weighty, important”), Latin capāx (“large, wide, roomy, spacious, capacious, capable, apt”).


pig

en-noun

pig (countable and uncountable, plural pigs)

Torres Strait Creole: pig

Tok Pisin: pik

→ Abenaki: piks (from "pigs")

→ Malecite-Passamaquoddy: piks (from "pigs")

Pronunciation example of the word Pig in British English.ogg

From Middle English pigge (“pig, pigling”) (originally a term for a young pig, with adult pigs being swyn), apparently from Old English *picga (attested only in compounds, such as picgbrēad (“mast, pig-fodder”)), from Proto-West Germanic *piggō, *puggō (“piglet”). Compare Middle Dutch pogge, puggen, pigge, pegsken (“pigling”), Middle Low German pugge, pûke (“piglet”). Pokorny suggests this root might be somehow related to *bū-, *bew- (“to blow; swell”), which could account for the alternation between "pig" and "big".
A connection to early modern Dutch bigge (contemporary big (“piglet”)), West Frisian bigge (“pigling”), and similar terms in Middle Low German is sometimes proposed, "but the phonology is difficult". Some sources say the words are "almost certainly not" related, others consider a relation "probable, but not certain".
The slang sense of "police officer" is attested since at least 1785.

cuto (Northern Spain - specifically Aragon, La Rioja and Navarra)

even a blind pig can find an acorn once in a while

The protester shouted, “Don't give in to the pigs!” as he was arrested.

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers on the instant replay

1971, Gil Scott-Heron (lyrics and music), “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”:

“...Sounds too easy,” Marvin was saying. “What about the pigs?”
He meant police.

1989, Dan Simmons, Carrion Comfort, page 359:

The bank robberies went on and each raid became more bloody, Meinhof encouraging her followers to “kill the pigs” offering the slightest resistance, referring to policemen.

1990, Jay Robert Nash, Encyclopedia of World Crime: Volume 1: A-C, page 198:

Backing 300 of the more aggressive protesters was a supporting cast of several thousand more who stared down the small line of police. Those in front resumed their taunts of “Pig, pig, fascist pig,” and “pigs eat shit, pigs eat shit.” The rest of the crowd, however, backed off and sat down on the grass when reinforcements arrived. Police did not retaliate for the name-calling, and within minutes the line of demonstrators broke apart and the incident was over without violence.¹¹³

2008, Frank Kusch, Battleground Chicago: The Police and the 1968 Democratic National Convention, page 63:

But me, I joined the party to fight the pigs. That′s why I joined. Because my experience with the police was always negative.

2011, T. J. English, The Savage City: Race, Murder and a Generation on the Edge, unnumbered page:

Got a mind for the undies
I'm tryna stay far from the pigs

2017, “All This”, performed by Mayhem (Uptop):

(now chiefly US, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, India, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, offensive, slang) A police officer.

警犬 (ging² hyun², literally “police dog”)


doubt

doubt (countable and uncountable, plural doubts)

Etymology tree
Latin dubō
Latin -itō
Latin dubitō
Old French doterbor.
Middle English douten
Old French doter
Old French doutebor.
Middle English doute
Latin dubiusbor.
English dubiousinflu.
Latin dubitōinflu.
English doubt
The verb is derived from Middle English douten (“to be in doubt, feel unsure; to be afraid or worried; to hesitate; to be confused; to have respect or reverence”) [and other forms], from Old French douter, doter, duter (compare Middle French doubter), from Latin dubitāre (“to be uncertain, doubt; to hesitate, waver in coming to an opinion; to consider, ponder”); the further etymology is uncertain, but one theory is that dubitō may be derived from dubius (“fluctuating, wavering; doubtful, dubious, uncertain”), from duhibius (“held as two”), from duo (“two”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”)) + habeō (“to have, hold”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- (“to grab, take”)). Although the Middle English form of the word was spelled without a b, this letter was later introduced through the influence of the Latin words dubitāre and dubitō. However, the English word continued to be pronounced without the b sound.
The noun is derived from Middle English dout, doute (“uncertain feeling; questionable point; hesitation; anxiety, fear; reverence, respect; something to be feared, danger;”) [and other forms],
from Old French doute, dote, dute (“uncertain feeling, doubt”), from doter, douter, duter (“to doubt; to be afraid of, fear”) (compare Middle French doubter; modern French douter (“to doubt; to suspect”)); see further etymology above.
Displaced Old English twēo (“doubt”) and twēoġan (“to doubt”).

nb...

doubt, doubten, dought, doughten, douti, douʒte, dut, duten, duti

nb...

dewt, dote, doubt, doubte, dought, doughte, douthe, douʒte, douȝt, douȝte, dowght, dowt, dowte, dut, dute

It is entirely normal to hear a statement like "I have just one doubt, miss" or "If you have any doubts before the exam tomorrow, come see me in the staff room". The doubts in the aforementioned sentences are not as much rooted in a lack of faith as in a lack of understanding.

2006 July 12, Vishy, “Vishy's Indian English Dictionary: doubt”, in Vishy's Indian English Dictionary, archived from the original on 2008-03-09:

multiple-choice question
multiple-choice question

(countable, obsolete or India) A point of uncertainty, especially a yes/no or a multiple-choice question


wallah

Either from Hindi -वाला (-vālā, “pertaining to”) or from Hindi वाला (vālā, “person in charge”).

Kindly take one of my cigarettes, sir. Do you not admire my new silver case, sir? From the boxwallah, two rupees eight annas.

(India) A servant or other person responsible for something, often specified before it, for example kitchen wallah.

competition wallah
competition wallah#English

(India, historical) Short for competition wallah.


MP

(chiefly India) Initialism of Madhya Pradesh.


tank

→ Afrikaans: tenk

→ Albanian: tank

→ Assamese: টেংকি (teṅki)

→ Asturian: tanque

→ Azerbaijani: tank

→ Bashkir: танк (tank)

→ Belarusian: танк (tank)

→ Bengali: ট্যাংক (ṭêṅko)

→ Burmese: တင့်ကား (tang.ka:)

→ Buryat: танк (tank)

→ Catalan: tanc

→ Chechen: танк (tank)

→ Chinese:

Mandarin: 坦克 (tǎnkè)

→ Chuvash: танк (tank)

→ Czech: tank

→ Danish: tank

→ Dutch: tank

→ Dzongkha: ཏེངཀ (tengk)

→ Eastern Mari: танк (tank)

→ Estonian: tank

→ Fiji Hindi: tanki

→ Finnish: tankki

→ French: tank

→ Galician: tanque

→ Georgian: ტანკი (ṭanḳi)

→ German: Tank

→ Greek: τανκ (tank)

→ Greenlandic: tanki

→ Hebrew: טנק (tank)

desctree

→ Hindi: टंकी (ṭaṅkī)
→ Burmese: တိုင်ကီ (tuingki)

→ Indonesian: tank

→ Italian: tank, tanca

→ Japanese: タンク (tanku)

→ Kazakh: танк (tank)

→ Korean: 탱크 (taengkeu)

→ Kumyk: танк (tank)

→ Kyrgyz: танк (tank)

→ Latvian: tanks

→ Lezgi: танк (tank)

→ Lithuanian: tankas

→ Macedonian: тенк (tenk)

→ Malay: tank

→ Maori: taika

→ Norwegian: tank, tanks

→ Ossetian: танк (tank)

→ Persian: تانک (tânk)

desc

→ Portuguese: tanque (“armored vehicle”)

→ Quechua: tanki

→ Romanian: tanc

→ Romansch: tanc

desctree

→ Russian: танк (tank), танкъ (tank) — Pre-reform orthography (1918)
→ Armenian: տանկ (tank)
→ Kazakh: танк (tank)
→ Mongolian: танк (tank)

→ Carpathian Rusyn: танк (tank)

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic script: тенк

Latin script: tenk

→ Sidamo: tanke

→ Slovak: tank

→ Slovene: tank

→ Swahili: tangi

→ Tajik: танк (tank), тонк (tonk)

→ Tamil: தாங்கி (tāṅki)

→ Tatar: танк (tank)

→ Tokelauan: tane

→ Turkish: tank

→ Turkmen: tank

→ Ukrainian: танк (tank)

→ Upper Sorbian: tank

→ Urdu: ٹینک (ṭaink)

→ Uzbek: tank

→ Vietnamese: xe tăng

→ Walloon: tank

→ Welsh: tanc

→ Yakut: тааҥка (taañka)

→ Yiddish: טאַנק (tank)

From Portuguese tanque (“tank, liquid container”), from an Indo-Aryan language such as Gujarati ટાંકી (ṭā̃kī, “cistern”) or Marathi टांकी (ṭāṅkī). Compare the Arabic verb اِسْتَنْقَعَ (istanqaʕa, “to become stagnant, to stagnate”).
In the sense of armoured vehicle, first attested in 1915, prototypes were described as tanks for carrying water to disguise their nature as well as due to physical resemblance.


thrice

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English thrice, thries (“three times, thrice; a third time; repeated three times”), from earlier thrī, thrīe (“three times, thrice; a third time”) (from Old English þriwa, þreowa) + -es (suffix forming adverbs of time, place, and manner) (from Old English -es (suffix forming adverbs)). The word is cognate with Old Frisian thria ("thrice"; > Saterland Frisian träie (“thrice”)), Middle Low German drîes (“thrice”), Middle High German drīes, drīs (“thrice”).

gloss

"thrice"; > Saterland Frisian <i class="Latn mention" lang="stq">träie</i> (“thrice”)

Thrice ore the caddow I mine armes outſpred: / Thrice did I fall, before I once could riſe: / Leaning vpon mine elbow for a reſt, / Nodding, I knockt my chin againſt my breſt. // Then ſigh’d, ſlipt downe, and twixt the ſheete and pillow / I nuzled in, joyn’d knees and chin together: / I dream’d I wore a garland of greene willow. / But ſnuffling low, I prickt me with a fether; / So wakt, the bolſter for my backe I choſe, / And yawning thrice, I rub’d mine eyes and roſe.

1601, Io[hn] Weeuer [i.e., John Weever], The Mirror of Martyrs, or The Life and Death of that Thrice Valiant Captaine, and Most Godly Martyre Sir Iohn Old-castle Knight Lord Cobham, [London]: Printed by V[alentine] S[immes] for William Wood, →OCLC:

The weyward Siſters, hand in hand, / Poſters of the Sea and Land, / Thus doe goe, about, about, / Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, / And thrice againe, to make vp nine, / Peace, the Charme’s wound vp.

c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 132, column 1:

And the second time the cocke crew : and Peter called to minde the word that Jesus ſaid unto him, Before the cocke crow twiſe, thou ſhalt denie me thriſe. And when he thought thereon, he wept.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 14:72:

How far might I have been on my way by this time! I am made to tread thoſe ſteps thrice over, which I needed not to have trod but once: Yea, now alſo I am like to be benighted, for the day is almoſt ſpent.

1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 47:

Once, twice, thrice, I met Young Lubin on the Green, / once, twice, thrice, Young Lubin he met me, / the firſt time I beheld the Lad he made a humble bow, / I bluſh'd and hung my ſilly head and felt I don't know how, […]

[1805?], [James] Hook, Once, Twice, Thrice, Sung with Great Applause by Mrs. Bland at Vauxhall Gardens, London: Printed for J. Dale, […], →OCLC, stanza 1, pages 4–5:

Roger Wildrake, also, who had twice or thrice put to his eyes what remained of a kerchief, interested by the lady's evident distress, though unable to comprehend the mysterious cause, hastened to assist the divine in supporting so fair a burthen.

1826, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC, page 107:

And then he [Bedivere] threw the sword into the water as far as he might, and there came an arm and a hand above the water, and met it and caught it, and so shook it thrice and brandished. And then the hand vanished away with the sword in the water.

1918, Thomas Malory, “The Sword Excalibur”, in William Patten, compiler, Heroes and Heroines of Chivalry (The Junior Classics; IV), New York, N.Y.: P[eter] F[enelon] Collier & Son Corporation, →OCLC, page 29:

Seven hours after giving birth […] Kate [Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge] gave the world a first glimpse of their third child, a new Prince of Cambridge. […] Minutes after the brief photocall, the couple headed home with William [the Duke of Cambridge] emerging with his son in a car seat and holding Kate’s hand. “Thrice the worry now,” a smiling William said, holding up three fingers.

2018 April 24, Richard Palmer, “Royal baby: ‘Thrice the worry now!’: Prince William captures the reality of parenthood”, in The Sunday Express, London, archived from the original on 2018-06-15:


BSA

Bharatiya Sakshya Act
w:Bharatiya Sakshya Act

(India) Initialism of Bharatiya Sakshya Act, the official evidence act of India.


public school

From public (originally, "communal" and contrasted with personal tutors; later, "state-run" and contrasted with private schools) + school.

All such School-masters as have charge of Children and do instruct them either in Publick Schools, or Private Houses.

1580 June 18, Letters of the Privy Council in John Strype's History of Edmund Grindal (1710), ii.xi.254

No person shall keepe any schoole... except it be in some publike or free Grammer Schoole, or in some such noblemans... or gentlemans... house as are not recusants.

1604, Acts of Parliament 1 under James I, c.4, §8

This worthy Man having observed the imperfect Institution of our public Schools, and the many Vices which Boys were there liable to learn, had resolved to educate his Nephew... in his own House.

1749, Henry Fielding, chapter V, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume I, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book iii, page 184:

Our Public Schools... (by which phrase we never mean real public schools like the Board schools at all, but merely schools for the upper and middle classes) are in their existing stage primarily great gymnasiums.

1893 February 4, Westminster Gazette, section 2:

Who is there who has not jeered at the House of Lords, the military caste, the Royal Family, the public schools, the huntin′ and shootin′ people, the old ladies in Cheltenham boarding houses, the horrors of ‘county’ society and the social hierarchy generally?

1937, George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier, section 146:

It turned out she was posh, or posh-ish, having been to a public school somewhere in Hampshire.

2005, Nick Laird, Utterly Monkey, section 223:

(UK, Ireland, India) Certain private schools, particularly (initially) any grammar school operated apart from the personal lands of its students or (from the 19th century) the feepaying secondary schools which developed from or were modelled upon them; a British boarding school

Public School

(in the context of Britain) private grammar school; boarding school

private school

fee-charging private school, offering housing


lemonade

en-noun

lemonade (countable and uncountable, plural lemonades)

→ Japanese: レモネード (remonēdo)

→ Korean: 레모네이드 (remoneideu)

→ Welsh: lemonêd

From French limonade, equivalent to lemon + -ade.

നാരങ്ങാവെള്ളം

nāraṅṅāveḷḷaṁ

(US, Canada, India, Philippines) A flavoured beverage consisting of water, lemon, and sweetener, sometimes ice, served mainly as a refreshment.


tomato sauce

tomato sauce (usually uncountable, plural tomato sauces)

A plastic tomato sauce bottle, which could have been cut in half to make a flower pot, was quickly surveyed along with other trophies, and received the death sentence. “In the bin, Bob.”

1979 June, Peter C. Harper, Robert Alexander Falla K.B.E., C.M.G., M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S.N.Z.: An Appreciation, page 356:

1980 January-May, Laurence Le Guay, Cruising World, page 98,
I quickly learned that there is a hell of a difference between tomato sauce and ketchup and that there is an even greater difference when it comes to mayonnaise: real American or the pseudo Australian — and I had always believed this to be a French concoction.

The event was a BBQ in the peaceful and picturesque System Garden at the University of Melbourne, Parkville campus. Food was plentifil and included a variety of sausages and veggie burgers, onions, bread and tomato sauce in addition to soft drinks.

2003 March, Microbiology Australia, page 46:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei) Tomato ketchup, used as a condiment.


chop

→ Cantonese: chop (cop1)

→ Macanese: chop

Borrowed from Hindi छाप (chāp, “stamp”). Closely related to the similarly descended Malay word cap, which likely reinforced the English usage within the Malay world.

(colloquial, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei) A stamp or seal; a mark, imprint or impression on a document (or other object or material) made by stamping or sealing a design with ink or wax, respectively, or by other methods.


chop

en-verb

chop (third-person singular simple present chops, present participle chopping, simple past and past participle chopped)

chops (present singular third-person)
chopping (participle present)
chopped (participle past)
chopped (past)

(transitive, colloquial, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei) To stamp or seal (a document); to mark, impress or otherwise place a design or symbol on paper or other material, usually, but not necessarily, to indicate authenticity.


pun

Hackeries and carriages, loaded and empty, 8 annas. Sheep, goats, &c., 1 pun of cowries each.

1864, The Regulations of the Bengal Code in Force in September 1862, page 1019:

(India, historical) A certain number of cowries, generally 80.


mail

en-noun

mail (countable and uncountable, plural mails)

→ Japanese: メール

From Middle English male, from Anglo-Norman male, Old French male (“bag, wallet”), from Frankish *malha (“bag”), from Proto-Germanic *malhō (“bag, pouch”), from Proto-Indo-European *molko- (“leather pouch”). Compare Dutch maal.

der

Please look through those mails and confirm whether you received the one about scheduling.

(countable, especially India) An email message.


union

en-adj

union (comparative more union, superlative most union)

more union (comparative)
most union (superlative)

From Middle English unyoun, from Old French union, from Late Latin ūniō, ūniōnem (“oneness, unity”), from Latin ūnus (“one”). Doublet of unio.

der

The union government of India


gym

en-verb

gym (third-person singular simple present gyms, present participle gyming or gymming, simple past and past participle gymed or gymmed)

gyms (present singular third-person)
gyming (participle present)
gymming (participle present)
gymed (participle past)
gymed (past)
gymmed (participle past)
gymmed (past)

The only thing that can make you susceptible to this condition pre-marriage is crash dieting or mindless gymming and exercise.)

2011, Rujuta Diwekar, Women and the weight loss tamasha:

I have tried everything from yoga to dancing to gymming, but I can't be consistent with anything. Actually, I'm okay without working out.

So just like you go gymming for your body, go gymming with thoughts in order to have a healthier mind.

2021, Sandeep Dahiya, Lazy Ways To Truth, page 30:

(intransitive, India, Australia, South Africa) To go to the gym.


tyre

Borrowed from Tamil தயிர் (tayir), itself from Sanskrit दधि (dádhi). Doublet of dahi.

The boiled milk, that the family has not used, is allowed to cool in the same vessel; and a little of the former days tyre, or curdled milk, is added to promote its coagulation, and the acid fermentation. Next morning it has become tyre, or coagulated acid milk.

1809, The Annual Register, Or, A View of the History, Politics, […] , page 954:


course

→ Gulf Arabic: كورس (kōrs)

From Middle English cours, from Old French cours, from Latin cursus (“course of a race”), from currō (“run”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run”). Doublet of cursus and cour.

polku

the course of true love never did run smooth

It was curious to Oakfield to be back on the Ferozepore course, after a six months' interval, which seemed like years. How much had happened in these six months!

1853, William Delafield Arnold, Oakfield; or, Fellowship in the East, section II, page 124:

A path that something or someone moves along.

(India, historical) The drive usually frequented by Europeans at an Indian station.


horn

horn (third-person singular simple present horns, present participle horning, simple past and past participle horned)

horns (present singular third-person)
horning (participle present)
horned (participle past)
horned (past)

From Middle English horn, horne, from Old English horn, from Proto-West Germanic *horn, from Proto-Germanic *hurną. Compare West Frisian hoarn, Dutch hoorn, Low German Hoorn, horn, German Horn, Danish and Swedish horn, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽 (haurn).
Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂-nó-m, from *ḱerh₂- (“head, horn”). Compare Breton kern (“horn”), Latin cornū, Ancient Greek κέρας (kéras), Proto-Slavic *sьrna, Old Church Slavonic сьрна (sĭrna, “roedeer”), Hittite [script needed] (surna, “horn”), Persian سر (sar), Sanskrit शृङ्ग (śṛṅga, “horn”).
(telephone): From the horn-shaped earpieces of old communication systems that used air tubes.

cog

Rabia Sajal Niazi, His Precious Gem
He horned five times but the man didn't moved his car away.

(intransitive, Singapore, India) To sound the horn of a motor vehicle; to honk.


loo

From Hindi लू (lū), ultmately from Sanskrit उल्का (ulkā, “flame”).

It was a pitchy black night, as stifling as a June night can be, and the loo, the red-hot wind from the westward, was booming among the tinder-dry trees and pretending that the rain was on its heels.

1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Man Who Would Be King”, in The Phantom 'Rickshaw and Other Tales, page 78:

(India) A hot dust-bearing wind found in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and the Punjab.


INS

(India, military, nautical) Initialism of Indian Naval Ship.


griffin

Chinese Pidgin English: griffin

From Middle English griffoun, from Old French griffon, from Latin gryphus, from Ancient Greek γρύψ (grúps).

Tables were laid out in the palace, profusely covered with wines and refreshments, in the European style; old hands and griffins, fair sex and civilians, seemed all determined to enjoy themselves[…]

1842, The Asiatic journal and monthly register, volume 38, page 40:

(dated, India) A person who has just arrived from Europe.


ordinance

From Middle English ordinaunce (ca. 1300), from Old French ordenance (“decree, command”) (modern French ordonnance), from Medieval Latin ordinantia, from ordinans, the present participle of ordino (“put in order”) (whence ordain). Doublet of ordonnance.

der

An edict or decree, authoritative order.

(India, Pakistan) A temporary legislation promulgated by the president on the recommendation of the cabinet.


saloon

→ Finnish: saluuna

→ French: saloon

→ Russian: салун (salun)

→ Bengali: সেলুন (śelun)

→ Hindi: सैलून (sailūn)

From Occitan salon IPA⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /saˈlun/ French salon, either augmentative of salle (“room”), or borrowed from Italian salone (“hall”), augmentative form of sala, salla (“room”); in both cases borrowed from a Germanic source such as Old High German sal (“house, hall”), from Proto-Germanic *salą, from Proto-Indo-European *sol-, derived from *sel- (“dwelling”). Doublet of salon.

(India, Nigeria) A barbershop (store offering haircuts).


auto

Clipping of autorickshaw, from Hindi ऑटो रिक्शा (ŏṭo rikśā).

Hindi ऑटो रिक्शा (ŏṭo rikśā)

Users are often unable to note down the number of the taxi or the auto as the driver will just zoom past.


chick

Borrowed from Hindustani چق (ciq) / चिक (cik), ultimately from Persian چق (čeq).

1890, Rudyard Kipling, Letter to William Canton, 5 April, 1890, in Sandra Kemp and Lisa Lewis (eds.) Writings on writing by Rudyard Kipling, Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 34, https://books.google.ca/books?id=-AQStA5QMjwC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Then, through a cautiously lifted chick, the old scene stands revealed […]

It is not uncommon at meal-time to see the table servants chasing the sparrows about the room, endeavouring to drive them out while some one holds up the "chick" or bamboo net which covers the doorway.

1905, A. C. Newcombe, chapter VII, in Village, Town, and Jungle Life in India, Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, page 106:

[…] at this time of day all the verandas were curtained with green bamboo chicks.

1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], “Chapter 2”, in Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC:

Outside I could hear the bamboo chick tapping on the door like a blind man's stick on a kerbstone.

1999, Kevin Rushby, chapter 10, in Chasing the Mountain of Light: Across India on the Trail of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond, New York: St. Martin's Press, page 216:

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


same

From Middle English same, from Old Norse samr (“same”) and/or Old English same, sama (“same”) in the phrase swā same (swā) (“in like manner, in the same way (as)”), both from Proto-Germanic *samaz (“same”), from Proto-Indo-European *somHós (“same”). Doublet of -some, some.
Cognate with Scots samin (“same, like, together”), Dutch samen (“together”), Danish samme (“same”), Swedish samma (“same”), Norwegian Bokmål samme (“same”), Norwegian Nynorsk same (“same”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌼𐌰 (sama), a weak adjectival form, Ancient Greek ὁμός (homós, “same”), Old Irish som, Russian са́мый (sámyj), Sanskrit सम (samá), Persian هم (ham, “also, same”), Finnish sama (“same”), Estonian sama (“same”).

My picture/photography blog...kindly give me your reviews on the same.

(India, common) It or them, as above, meaning the last object mentioned, mainly as complement: on the same, for the same.


jelly

Under pinning with jelly in chunam — one square.

1862, Notes on Building and Road-making, with Rules for Estimating Repairs to Tanks and Channels, page 143:

(India) Vitrified brick refuse used as metal in building roads.


dandy

From Hindi डंडी (ḍaṇḍī, “rod, pole”), from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀟𑀁𑀟𑀺𑀕𑀸 (ḍaṃḍigā), from Sanskrit दण्डिका (daṇḍikā), from दण्ड (daṇḍa) + -इका (-ikā).

Our Dandees (or boatmen) boyled their rice.

1685 January 6, William Hedges, Diary, Vol. I, p. 175

...the Dandis, distinguished by carrying a small dand or wand...

1862, Henry Beveridge, A Comprehensive History of India..., volume II, page 74:

(India) A Shaiva mendicant who carries a small rod.

1870, Constance Frederica Gordon-Cumming, Good Words, p. 135:

As the darkness closed in... I had to give up the attempt to use the dandy, and struggle on on foot.

Major Battye and Captain Urmston joined the rear and placed the wounded man in a dandy.

(India) An open sedan chair formed by suspending a rudimentary frame or strong cloth from a pole or set of poles.


peg

From Middle English pegge, from Middle Dutch pegge (“pin, peg”), from Old Dutch *pigg-, *pegg-, from Proto-Germanic *pig-, *pag- (“peg, stake”), from Proto-Indo-European *bak-, *baḱ- (“club, pointed stick, peg”). Cognate with Dutch dialectal peg (“pin”), Low German pig, pigge (“peg, stick with a point”), Low German pegel (“post, stake”), Swedish pigg (“tooth, spike”), Danish pig (“spike”), Norwegian Bokmål pigg (“spike”), Irish bac (“stick, crook”), Latin baculum (“staff”), Latvian bakstît (“to poke”), Ancient Greek βάκτρον (báktron, “staff, walking stick”). Related to beak.
This is one of the very few English words that begin with a p and come from Proto-Germanic. Proto-Germanic *p, when not in a consonant cluster beginning with *s, developed by Grimm's law from the Proto-Indo-European consonant *b, which was very rare.
(To indicate or ascribe an attribute to):: Assumed to originate from the use of pegs or pins as markers on a bulletin board or a list.

sense

This is the sort of drinking that Anna Hazare fought to eradicate from Ralegan Siddhi, as Colonel Phatak explained, after I joked about an army man needing his evening peg of whisky before dinner.

2008 September 2, Daniel Lak, India Express: The Future of the New Superpower, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN:

(India) A serving of any hard spirit, particularly whisky.


sauce

en-noun

sauce (countable and uncountable, plural sauces)

→ Japanese: ソース

→ Scottish Gaelic: sabhs

PIE word
 *séh₂ls
From Middle English sauce, from Old French sause, from Vulgar Latin *salsa, noun use of the feminine of Latin salsus (“salted”), past participle of saliō (“I salt”), from sal. Doublet of salsa.
For the meaning development compare Ancient Greek ἥδυσμα (hḗdusma) ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swéh₂dus (whence also English sweet).

source (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger)

what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander

[meat] pie and [tomato] sauce

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, India) Tomato sauce (similar to US tomato ketchup), as in:


tap

From Persian or Urdu تب (tab, “malarial fever”), ultimately from Sanskrit ताप (tāpa, “fever; heat; pain, torment”).

der

According to the Yunani hakims dengue is a "tap safrow"—a fever due to excess of bile, and it is wonderful the amount of dark colored bile that passes away after a purgative, especially if that is not administered until the third day.

[1873 February 1, James Wise, “Report on the Epidemic of Dengue in the Dacca District During 1872”, in The Indian Medical Gazette, volume VIII, Calcutta: Wyman & Co., page 32, column 2:

[…] in despair, he fell back on the unfailing reason (to the native mind) for every unaccountable action, and declared that the horses had tap, or fever. ¶ "Oh, that's all nonsense, Sooka!" replied Blunt to this assertion of his subordinate. They were walking along between the rows of stalls, making their morning inspection, and closely examining into the condition of every animal: "that's all nonsense! there's no tap here. Every one of them is as cool and nice as he can be—perfect pictures of condition most of them, No, no; there's no fever whatever amongst them."

1874, Stephen J Mac Kenna, At School With An Old Dragoon, second edition, London: Henry S. King & Co., pages 330–331:

The country, my entertainer informed me, was considered perfectly safe, unless I feared the tap, the bad kind of fever which infests all the country at the base of the hills.

1882, F[rancis] Marion Crawford, Mr. Isaacs: A Tale of Modern India, New York, N.Y.: P. F. Collier & Son, page 261:

But, when I heard her speak soft Urdu words,
 Like a white angel in her pity of us,
 No whit afraid of sitla, or of tap
 Fever or pest!

[1888, Edwin Arnold, With Sa'di in the Garden: Or, the Book of Love, Boston, M.A.: Roberts Brothers, page 47:

(India, chiefly East India) A malarial fever.


bangun

en-noun

bangun (usually uncountable, plural banguns)

(India, uncommon) An eggplant; a brinjal.


alliance

alliance (countable and uncountable, plural alliances)

From Middle English alliaunce, from Old French aliance (French alliance). Equivalent to ally + -ance. Compare with Doric Greek ἁλία (halía, “assembly”).


babu

I could see Kana-babu’s sweet-shop at the end of their lane with absolute clarity.

A Hindu title of respect, equivalent to Mr., usually appended to the surname of a Hindu man


centum

Calque of Sanskrit शतक (śataka, “a hundred; a satakam”). The latter meaning is attested at least since 1991 and is explained by 100-point academic grading in India.

clq

Achyuta Satakam is a centum in Prakrit Language; Devanayaka Panchasat (the fifty on Devanayaka), in sanskrit and several poetical works in Tamil.

1991, A. Srinivasa Raghavan, The Life and Works of Sri Nigamanta Maha Desikan:

Though he secured a centum in mathematics, he failed to secure pass marks in other subjects.

1998, K. Srinivasa Rao, Srinivasa Ramanujan: A Mathematical Genius:

Ramesh scored a centum in mathematics.

2004, K. R. Narayanaswamy, A Teacher's Grammar of English:


ancestral

From Anglo-Norman ancestrel, from ancestre (“ancestor”).

He considered that the local custom permitted a sister's son to inherit in default of near male ancestrals.

1868, The Punjab Record - Volume 3, page 58:

But ancestrals cannot be willed away .

1921, Jagannath Raghunath Gharpure, Principles of Hindu Law, page 390:

Having no regards for their ancestrals and parents.

1946, Sino-Indian Studies - Volume 2, Part 1, page 19:

(India, law) A descendant of one's ancestors.


rubber

en-noun

rubber (usually uncountable, plural rubbers)

desc

→ Kashubian: roberk (Canada, United State)

→ Sikaiana: lapa

From rub + -er.
The sense of the substance comes from its ability to function as an eraser, displacing earlier caoutchouc. The senses not having to do with rubbing or erasing are secondarily derived from the name of the substance.

For example, they may use paddle pop sticks, hand span, pencils, rubbers, mathematics equipment (i.e. base 10 material) or anything else the teacher can find to measure the lengths of nominated objects.

2006, Lisa Kervin, Research for Educators, page 148:

Drawing materials, he thought, I used to love drawing as a lad. I can afford some plain paper and pencils, surely? And a rubber, too. He smiled at the memory of an elderly uncle, also fond of drawing, who′d always called rubbers ‘lead eaters’.

2010, Anna Jacobs, Beyond the Sunset, unnumbered page:

Stan stole a diary and some pens, pencils, ink and rubbers during his early days as a POW working on the Singapore docks.

2011, Patrick Lindsay, The Spirit of the Digger, Revised edition, unnumbered page:

(countable, Australia, India, Brunei, New Zealand, UK) An eraser.


tali

Ultimately of Dravidian origin, compare Tamil தாலி (tāli) and Telugu తాలి (tāli).


mahal

Borrowed from Hindi महल (mahal), from Arabic مَحَلّ (maḥall, “place”).

(historical) A territorial division of pre-independence India.


gravy

en-noun

gravy (usually uncountable, plural gravies)

→ Welsh: grefi

From Middle English gravey, greavie, gravy; probably from greaves, graves (“the sediment of melted tallow”), or from Old French grave, a claimed misspelling of grané (“stew, spice”), from grain (“spice”).
Sense of "pasta sauce" apparently seems to be from Italian dialect, especially Calabrian, differentiating tomato puree (salsa (“sauce”)) from cooked tomato sauce (sugo).

With this the hostess poured two or three spoonfuls of the gravy of the curry on to the rice opposite to each person.

1879, The Sunday at Home, volume 26, page 342:

Now it seems that Pa Senik was a little deaf. Awang noticed that his father-in-law sometimes poured the gravy of his curry on his rice and that sometimes he sucked it up.

1906, Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, "Pa Senik and his Son-in-Law Awang", Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, page 59-60

This is strained with a piece of cloth or a strainer and the green liquid forms the gravy of the curry.

1992, Khammān Khonkhai, The Teachers of Mad Dog Swamp:

Return flaked fish to curry gravy and bring to the boil.

2007, Geok Boi Lee, Classic Asian Noodles, Marshall Cavendish, →ISBN, page 158:

(uncountable, India, Singapore) Curry sauce.


bloody

en-adv

bloody (comparative more bloody, superlative most bloody)

more bloody (comparative)
most bloody (superlative)

From Middle English blody, blodi, from Old English blōdiġ, blōdeġ (“bloody”), from Proto-West Germanic *blōdag, from Proto-Germanic *blōþagaz (“bloody”), equivalent to blood + -y. Cognate with Dutch bloedig (“bloody”), German blutig (“bloody”), Danish blodig (“bloody”), Swedish blodig (“bloody”), Icelandic blóðugur (“bloody”). See Wikipedia for thoughts on sense evolution.

Walk! Not bloody likely. [Sensation]. I am going in a taxi. [She goes out].

1912 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company, published 1916, →OCLC, Act III, page 153:

"Dice are no bloody good," David said.

1994, Robert Jordan, Lord of Chaos, page 109:

(informal, Australia, British, India, Ireland, Newfoundland, New Zealand, South Africa, mildly vulgar) Used to express anger, annoyance, or shock, or for emphasis.


bundobust

en-noun

bundobust (countable and uncountable, plural bundobusts)

From Hindustani بند و بست (band-o-bast) / बंदोबस्त (bandobast), from Classical Persian بند و بست (band-u-bast, “tying and binding”).

der

He was proud of his faculty of organisation—what we call bundobust.

1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Arrest of Lieutenant Golightly”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio, published 2005, page 93:

‘Hand on my brother whenever suits you. I write to you because he is sure to make a bad bundobust.’

1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin, published 2005, page 292:

(India) A system of discipline; organisation, arrangement, preparation.


programme

/ˈpɹoʊˌɡɹæm/

Our programme for today’s exercise class includes swimming and jogging.

The programme about Greek architecture starts at 9:00 on Channel 4.

ITEC is the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme.

It had been arranged as part of the day's programme that Mr. Cooke was to drive those who wished to go over the Rise in his new brake.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

Thus once a computer programme has been prepared, vastly different conditions can be inserted and experimented with at the expense of a few hours of computer time.

1961, New Scientist, volume 9, number 226, page 679:

It had been sixteen years since the BBC’s Grace Wyndham Goldie wrote her internal memo about luring him back to make sociological/scientific TV programmes. Now a second note had circulated, from the science department, proposing that he should present the Corporation’s next educative megaseries.

2012, Kate Bassett, “Mid-Seventies Onwards: Operatic beginnings and The Body in Question”, in In Two Minds: A Biography of Jonathan Miller, London: Oberon Books Ltd, →ISBN, page 219:

British, New Zealand, and India standard spelling of program.


toast

en-noun

toast (countable and uncountable, plural toasts)

→ Bulgarian: тост (tost)

→ Czech: toust, toast

→ Dutch: toost, toast

→ French: toast

→ Romanian: toast

→ German: Toast

→ Greek: τοστ (tost)

→ Hebrew: טוסט (tost)

→ Italian: toast

→ Japanese: トースト (tōsuto)

→ Korean: 토스트 (toseuteu)

→ Maori: tōhi

→ Macedonian: тост (tost)

→ Norwegian Bokmål: toast

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: toast

→ Polish: tost, toast

desctree

→ Russian: тост (tost)
→ Armenian: տոստ (tost)

→ Turkish: tost

→ Ukrainian: тост (tost)

→ Welsh: tost

Bill Murray
Dow Jones & Company
Ghostbusters
The Wall Street Journal

From Middle English tost, from the verb tosten (see below).
(person who is honored with a drink): First appears in print at the very end of the 17th century. The conventional assumption is that the use is metaphorical, “the name of a lady being supposed to flavour a drink like a spiced toast.” This is pure speculation, however, as the origin of the sense remains obscure.
(something that will be no more): Ad-libbed by actor Bill Murray in the 1984 film Ghostbusters (see quotation).

Go, fetch me a quart of Sacke, put a toſt in't.

c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v], page 52, column 1:

(countable, obsolete outside India) A piece of toast.


colony

Tok Pisin: koloni

→ Tokelauan: kolone

From Middle English colane, colonye, from Latin colōnia (“colony”), from colōnus (“farmer; colonist”), from colō (“till, cultivate, worship”), from earlier *quelō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to move; to turn (around)”). Doublet of Cologne, Colonia, and Köln.

der

Our colony is quite small, but each apartment is large.

(India) An apartment complex or neighborhood.


bogey

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-bogie.wav

Upgrading the tram bogeys to air-conditioned bogeys costs the State Government approximately INR 25,00,000/- per bogey.

2020 January 30, “Upgrading Kolkata's Tram Network”, in C40 Cities, archived from the original on 2024-02-25:

(British, dated, India, rail transport) Alternative spelling of bogie (“railway carriage”)


bogie

A dialectal word from Northern England of unknown origin which is unrelated to bogey (“hostile supernatural creature; terrifying thing, bugbear”).

The bogie coaches which he spoke of last year had been brought or were being brought into active service, but they had no further wagon stock available.

1917 October 12, “Company Meetings. [Assam Railways and Trading.]”, in The Near East: A Weekly Review of Oriental Politics, Literature, Finance, and Commerce, volume XIII, number 336, London: The Near East Editorial and Publishing Offices, →OCLC, page 479, column 3:

Although we took our eight bogies along to Whitstable at 60 m.p.h., and made a clean start from there, after Herne Bay the engine primed badly on Blacksole Bank and nearly stopped before we got over the top. Then we ran like the wind across the marshes with half-regulator, 30 per cent cut-off, and the engine blowing off.

1959 April, P. Ransome-Wallis, “The Southern in Trouble on the Kent Coast”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 220:

Hard work is required from men and machines as I was to experience later when footplating Lambton No 5 on five bogies battling its way up Newtondale.

1979 August, Michael Harris, “A line for all reasons: the North Yorkshire Moors Railway”, in Railway World, page 415:

[...] Ashoke was still reading at two-thirty in the morning, one of the few passengers on the train who was awake, when the locomotive engine and seven bogies derailed from the broad-gauge line. The first four bogies capsized into a depression alongside the track.

2003 September, Jhumpa Lahiri, chapter 1, in The Namesake, New York, N.Y.: Mariner Books, published 2004, →ISBN, page 17:

(British, dated, India, rail transport) A railway carriage.


enjoy

en-verb

enjoy (third-person singular simple present enjoys, present participle enjoying, simple past and past participle enjoyed)

enjoys (present singular third-person)
enjoying (participle present)
enjoyed (participle past)
enjoyed (past)

From Middle English enjoyen, from Old French enjoier, anjoier, enjoer (“to give joy, receive with joy, rejoice”), equivalent to en- + joy.

I enjoyed a lot.

(intransitive, India) To be satisfied or receive pleasure.


veg

en-noun

veg (countable and uncountable, plural vegs or veges or veg)

vegs (plural)
veges (plural)
veg (plural)

Clipping of various related words including vegetable, vegetarian, and vegetate.


devil

Tok Pisin: tewel

→ Chuukese: tefin

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁
Proto-Indo-European *dwísder.
Ancient Greek διά (diá)
Ancient Greek δια- (dia-)
Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH-der.
Ancient Greek βᾰ́λλω (bắllō)
Ancient Greek διαβάλλω (diabállō)
Ancient Greek διάβολος (diábolos)bor.
Latin diabolusbor.
Proto-West Germanic *diubul
Old English dēofol
Middle English devel
English devil
From Middle English devil, devel, deovel, from Old English dēofol, dēoful, from earlier dīobul (“devil”), from Latin diabolus, ultimately from Ancient Greek διάβολος (diábolos, “false accuser, slanderer”), also as "Satan" (in Jewish/Christian usage, translating Biblical Hebrew שָׂטָן (śātān)), from διαβάλλω (diabállō, “to slander”), literally “to throw across”, from διά (diá, “through, across”) + βάλλω (bállō, “throw”). The Old English word was probably adopted under influence of Latin diabolus (itself from the Greek). Other Germanic languages adopted the word independently: compare Saterland Frisian Düüwel (“devil”), West Frisian duvel (“devil”), Dutch duivel, duvel (“devil”), German Low German Düvel (“devil”), German Teufel (“devil”), Bavarian Teifl (“devil”), Danish djævel (“devil”), Swedish djävul (“devil”) (older: djefvul, Old Swedish diævul, Old Norse djǫfull). Doublet of diable, diablo, and diabolus.

der

better the devil you know than the devil you don't know

better the devil you know than the one you don't know

devil is beating his wife and marrying his daughter

he who sups with the devil should have a long spoon

the devil we know is better than the devil we don't know

the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know

(India) A poltergeist that haunts printing works.


raise

en-verb

raise (third-person singular simple present raises, present participle raising, simple past and past participle raised)

raises (present singular third-person)
raising (participle present)
raised (participle past)
raised (past)

From Middle English reysen, raisen, reisen, from Old Norse reisa (“to raise”), from Proto-Germanic *raisijaną, *raizijaną (“to raise”), causative form of Proto-Germanic *rīsaną (“to rise”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rey- (“to rise, arise”). According to Kroonen (2013), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to stir, rise”).
Cognate with Old English rāsian (“to explore, examine, research”), Old English rīsan (“to seize, carry off”), Old English rǣran (“to raise”). Doublet of rear.

whakahī

Referring to lifting the pitch of a musical note

hāpai

Of lifting an object to a higher elevation

hī

Refers to raising an eyebrow in scepticism

aradan qaldırmaq

(military) to remove or break up (a blockade); to relinquish (a siege), or cause this to be done

raise oneself up by one's own bootstraps

I will raise a trouble-ticket in order to correct this reporting issue.


into

From Middle English in-to, from Old English intō, equivalent to in + to. Cognate with Scots intae.

enough sense to pound sand into a rathole

it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God

knock someone into the middle of next week

you can't put the toothpaste back into the tube

Five into three is fifteen.

w:Oxford English Dictionary#Electronic versions

Oxford University Press
w:Oxford University Press

(British, archaic, India, mathematics) Expressing the operation of multiplication.

do

taking distinct arguments to distinct values


reaper

(India, obsolete) Each of the small laths laid across the rafters of a sloping roof to bear the tiles.


avail

en-verb

avail (third-person singular simple present avails, present participle availing, simple past and past participle availed)

avails (present singular third-person)
availing (participle present)
availed (participle past)
availed (past)

From Middle English availen (“to be of use”), from Old French a (“to”) + vail from valoir (“to be worth”), from Latin valere (“to be worthy, strong”).

You can avail discounts on food.

With this initiative, Valucard becomes an open system that is not limited to point of sale (POS) transactions, but now avails cash to its holders in various locations nationwide.

2004 November 16, Nik Ogbulie, “Decongesting the Banking Floors”, in This Day, archived from the original on 2009-01-22:

Over 85.3% of all persons who have adopted this method of contraception availed this service from government facilities.

2014, Shilpa Vishwas Date, Jyoti Rokade, Vidya Mule, Shreedher Dandapannavar, “Female sterilization failure: Review over a decade and its clinicopathological correlation”, in International Journal of Applied and Basic Medical Research, number 4(2), →DOI, pages 81–85:

(India, Africa, elsewhere proscribed) To provide; to make available; to use or take advantage of (an opportunity or available resource).


Paki

Either a clipping of Pakistani or a back-formation from Pakistan. Doublet of Pak.


diaper

en-noun

diaper (countable and uncountable, plural diapers)

From Middle English dyaper, from Old French dyapre, diaspre, from Medieval Latin diaspra, diasprum from Byzantine Greek δίασπρος (díaspros, adj), from δια- (dia-, “across”) + ἄσπρος (áspros, “white”).

der

(Canada, US, Philippines, India) An absorbent garment worn by a baby, by a young child not yet toilet trained, or by an adult who is incontinent; a nappy.

popok

absorbent garment worn by a baby, or by someone who is incontinent


American football

tlb

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Myanmar, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei)

"Chain mail, or an American football suit - that's what you'll want."

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

A team sport similar to rugby football, played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end.


budmash

‘His name,’ said Imam Din, as though the name were part of the crime, ‘is Muhammad Din, and he is a budmash.’

1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Story of Muhammad Din”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society, published 2004, page 194:


dubash

From Hindi दो (do, “two”) + भाषा (bhāṣā, “languages”).

This I learnt was the captain's dubash, a native man acting as general steward who provides every household article as well as of merchandise, and engages all inferior servants.

1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 90

[…] inhabitants complain to him, and as he does not understand the language he is obliged to call for his dubash to interpret what they say; […]

1844, Arthur Wellesley Duke of Wellington, John Gurwood, The Dispatches of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington, page 1625:

(India, chiefly historical) An Indian translator or interpreter, particularly in their role as a household steward for British colonizers.


concise

en-verb

concise (third-person singular simple present concises, present participle concising, simple past and past participle concised)

concises (present singular third-person)
concising (participle present)
concised (participle past)
concised (past)

From Latin concīsus (“cut short”), from concīdere (“cut to pieces”), from caedēre (“to cut, to strike down”).

(India, transitive) To make concise; to abridge or summarize.


yaar

From Hindustani یار (yār) / यार (yār), from Classical Persian یار (yār).

Help me, yaar!

‘I'm going to make the most of my life now, yaar,’ he said.

1990, Hanif Kureishi, chapter 15, in The Buddha of Suburbia, London, Boston: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, page 222:

(India, Pakistan) A friend, pal, or buddy.


minority

en-noun

minority (countable and uncountable, plural minorities)

From Middle French minorité, and its source Late Latin minōritās, from Latin minor.
Morphologically minor + -ity


click

en-verb

click (third-person singular simple present clicks, present participle clicking, simple past and past participle clicked)

clicks (present singular third-person)
clicking (participle present)
clicked (participle past)
clicked (past)

Imitative of the "click" sound; first recorded in the 1500s. Compare Saterland Frisian klikke (“to click”), Middle Dutch clicken (Modern Dutch: klikken (“to click”)), Old High German klecchen (Modern German: klecken, klicken (“to click”)), Danish klikke (“to click”), Swedish klicka (“to click”), Norwegian klikke (“to click”), Norwegian klekke (“to hatch”).

onomatopoeic

Imitative

Brad immediately took out his Iphone^([sic]) and clicked a picture of the plant and posted it up on Google and clicked search.

2014, Dhisti Desai, Innocent Desire, page 107:

They clicked some pictures outside his sea facing bungalow and left dejected again.

(transitive, India) To take (a photograph) with a camera.

(intransitive, India) To achieve success in one's career or a breakthrough, often the first time.

(intransitive, India) Of a film, to be successful at the box office.


guru

From Hindi गुरु (guru) / Punjabi ਗੁਰੂ (gurū), from Sanskrit गुरु (guru, “venerable, respectable”), originally "heavy" and in this sense cognate to English grieve and, more distantly, brute. Doublet of grave. A traditional, though flawed etymology based on the Advayataraka Upanishad (line 16) describes the syllables gu as “darkness” and ru as “destroyer”, thus ascribing the meaning of “one who destroys/dispels darkness” to the word.

der

(India) Any general teacher (as a term of respect).


shag

en-verb

shag (third-person singular simple present shags, present participle shagging, simple past and past participle shagged)

shags (present singular third-person)
shagging (participle present)
shagged (participle past)
shagged (past)

From Middle English schaggen, a variant of Middle English schoggen (“to shake; shake off; tremble”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a byform of Middle English schokken (“to shake; move rapidly”), related to Middle Low German schokken (“to shake; tremble”). Alternatively, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skakkōną (“to shake”), specifically continuing a post-Proto-Germanic variant *skagg-, where the non-singular stem *skag- caused the analogical replacement of the stem-final voiceless geminate consonants with voiced geminates, which was then leveled throughout the paradigm.

cog

(India, transitive, slang, vulgar) To masturbate.


bund

From Hindustani بند / बंद (band), from Classical Persian بند (band).

(India) A perennial ("wet") or seasonal ("dry") pond constructed in a depression and in which fish are stored, typically for breeding.


bund

Variant of bandh, from Hindi बंध (bandh); see that entry for more. Doublet of etymology 2 above.


keddah

From Assamese খেদা (kheda, “to pursue; to chase away”).

der

(India) An elephant trap; an enclosure constructed to entrap wild elephants.


hall

desc

→ Greek: χολ (chol), χωλ (chol), χωλλ (choll)

→ Japanese: ホール (hōru)

→ Korean: 홀 (hol)

→ Russian: холл (xoll)

Inherited from Middle English halle, from Old English heall (“hall, dwelling, house; palace, temple; law-court”), from Proto-West Germanic *hallu, from Proto-Germanic *hallō (“hall”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to hide, conceal”).
Cognate with Scots hall, haw (“hall”), Dutch hal (“hall”), German Halle (“hall”), Norwegian hall (“hall”), Swedish hall (“hall”), Icelandic höll (“palace”), Latin cella (“room, cell”), Sanskrit शाला (śā́lā, “house, mansion, hall”). Doublet of cell and cella.


chit

From chitty, from Hindi चिट्ठी (ciṭṭhī, “letter, note, written message”). Doublet of cure.

bor

1901, Falk, by Joseph Conrad
He just longed to get away from here and try his luck somewhere else, but for the sake of his sister he hung on and on till he ran himself into debt over his ears—I can tell you. I, myself, could show a handful of his chits for meals and drinks in my drawer.

You might come in out of contempt for history—then you'd fall in love with the idea that you could make it, because history had assumed a debt that had never been paid—because, save in apparent trivial, vanishing moments, the debt had been forgotten, and even the chits had been lost.

1989, Greil Marcus, “The Assault on Notre-Dame”, in Lipstick Traces, Faber & Faber, published 2009:

(India, China) A signed voucher or memorandum of a small debt, as for food and drinks at a club.


rutty

en-noun

rutty (plural rutties or ruttys or ruttees)

rutties (plural)
ruttys (plural)
ruttees (plural)

From Hindi रत्ती (rattī), literally “the seed of the plant Abrus precatorius.”

[…] they immediately desired to capitulate, and sent him, by way of ransom, a perfect diamond weighing two hundred and twenty four ruttys […]

1768, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, The History of Hindostan, London: T. Becket and P.A. de Hondt, Volume 2, Section 12, p. 112:

1858, Henry Yule, Narrative of the Mission … to the Court of Ava, London: Smith, Elder, Appendix, “Note on Metals, Minerals, &c., of Burma,” p. 348,
[Sapphires] of ten to fifteen rutties without a flaw are common, whereas a perfect ruby of that size is hardly ever seen.

[…] vast numbers of infatuated wretches have accustomed themselves to consume from 6 rutties (9 grains) to a rupee’s weight (180 grains) of nearly pure opium daily […]

1870, Norman Chevers, A Manual of Medical Jurisprudence for India, Calcutta: Thacker, Spink, page 227:

(India, obsolete) A unit of weight used for metals, precious stones and medicines, equivalent to 1+¹⁄₂ grains.


sepoy

→ Dutch: sepoy, sipoy

→ Indonesian: sepoy

→ German: Sepoy

→ Italian: sepoy

→ Swedish: sepoy

→ Finnish: sepoy

→ Turkish: sepoy

From Portuguese sipae, from Urdu سِپاہی (sipāhī) / Hindi सिपाही (sipāhī), from Classical Persian سِپَاهِی (sipāhī, “soldier, horseman”), from سِپَاه (sipāh, “army”). Doublet of spahi.

der

(India, Pakistan, Nepal) The holder of an infantry enlisted rank equivalent to private in other countries.


mullah

Derived from Classical Persian مُلَّا (mullā), from Arabic مَوْلًى (mawlan, “vicar, guardian”).

der

(India, religious slur, slang) A conservative Muslim leader or cleric, especially one who is hostile against other religions.

(India, religious slur, slang, by extension) A Muslim.


waler

From (New South) Wale(s) + -er, the horse having been bred in the then colony of New South Wales in the 19th century.

Without reason, against prudence, and at a moment's notice, he fell in love with a frivolous, golden-haired girl who used to tear about Simla Mall on a high, rough waler, with a blue velvet jockey-cap crammed over her eyes.

1888, Rudyard Kipling, “Wressley of the Foreign Office”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society, published 2004, page 204:

There were Arabs of high degree, thoroughbred English horses, and very good-looking Walers among them, besides some tiny ponies, four of which, when harnessed together, drew a real Cinderella coach of solid silver.

1889, Annie Brassey, The Last Voyage, to India and Australia, in the ‘Sunbeam’, published 2010, page 46:

2007, "Waler", entry in Bonnie L. Hendricks, International Encyclopedia of Horse Breeds, page 434,
Some maintain that the Waler is extinct, its blood living on only in the modern Australian Stock Horse and some of the feral brumbies that roam the outback.

By the 1850s, there was a thriving trade in selling the horses to the Indian Army as 'remounts'. Between 1834 and 1937, more than 300,000 Walers were sent to India.

2013, Peter Macinnis, The Big Book of Australian History, page 134:

(Australia, India) A breed of light saddle horse from Australia, once favoured as a warhorse.


tat

en-noun

tat (countable and uncountable, plural tats)

Corchorus olitorius
Corchorus olitorius#Translingual

(countable, India) Gunny cloth made from the fibre of the Corchorus olitorius (jute).


tat

And so each morning before daybreak I am up, and having dispatched my luggage on the backs of coolies after much noise and bustle, without which no natives can work, I mount my tat as the sun begins to touch the higher hills, and start on my morning ride of twelve miles.

1879, Val Cameron Prinsep, Glimpses of Imperial India, page 206:


muddle

We bought a few rugs and odds and ends and our sitting room looks quite European; then we have a bedroom with 2 beds and a dressing room, also a corridor for the muddles and servants.

1985, Lizzie Hessel, Ann Brown, Anne Rose, Lizzie: A Victorian Lady's Amazon Adventure, page 132:

I have an ayah (or lady's maid), and a tailor (for the ayahs cannot work); and A—84 has a boy: also two muddles—one to sweep my room, and another to bring water.

2022, Carl Thompson, Katrina O'Loughlin, Éadaoin Agnew, Women's Travel Writings in India 1777–1854, page 201:

(India, historical) A servant's attendant; underservant.


crore

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

Borrowed from Hindustani करोड़ / کروڑ (karoṛ).

Following the ban, the government stands to lose ₹30 crore annually, sources said. (India Times, 2nd July 2003)

The population of Gujarat is 3.39 crores.

(India) ten million; 10,000,000; or with Indian digit grouping, 1,00,00,000. Often used with units of money.


cranny

Borrowed from Hindustani किरानी (kirānī) / کِرانِی (kirānī).

(India, obsolete) A clerk writing English.

(India, obsolete) A member of the East Indians, or mixed-race people, from among whom English copyists were chiefly recruited.


dally

We have known Mazagon and long-pod Beans to be thrown out of a dally, because they were full of seed!

1872, J. Frederick Pogson, Indian Gardening, page 19:

(India) Alternative form of dolly (“offering of fruit or flowers”)


dolly

In some parts of India the dolly has grown into an extravagance consisting sometimes of bushels of fruit, nuts, and confectionery, with bottles of champagne and liqueurs.

1891, Karl August Lentzner, Colonial English, page 65:

(India) An offering of fruit or flowers.


indent

en-verb

indent (third-person singular simple present indents, present participle indenting, simple past and past participle indented)

indents (present singular third-person)
indenting (participle present)
indented (participle past)
indented (past)

Partly from Middle English indenten (“to dent in”), equivalent to in- + dent (see dent); partly from Middle English indenten, endenten, from Old French endenter (“to provide with teeth”), from en- (“in-, en-”) + dent (“tooth”), from Latin dēns.

uder

What is the rule observed in India in indenting upon England for military stores ?

1832 May 23, John Byng examining Jasper Nicolls in the House of Commons

(military, India, dated) To make an order upon; to draw upon, as for military stores.


molly

(India, South Asia) Alternative spelling of mali (“a member of a caste in South Asia whose traditional occupation is gardening; hence, any South Asian gardener”).


revert

en-verb

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

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

From Old French revertir, from Vulgar Latin *revertiō, variant of Latin revertō.

връщам

to cause to return to the previous owner

Please revert before Monday.

(intransitive, originally India, now global) To reply (to correspondence, etc.).


fresher

From a clipping of freshman + -er (Oxford -er).

(India) A fresh graduate looking for his/her first job.


burger

Clipping of hamburger, rebracketing it as ham + burger. From around 1939. The "American" sense is likely a back-formation from Burgerland.

/ˈbɜː(ɹ)ɡə(ɹ)/

(Australia, Fiji, India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, UK) Any sandwich that uses two bread rolls or buns (in North America it only refers to a sandwich with two buns or bread rolls and a meat patty).


reach

reach (third-person singular simple present reaches, present participle reaching, simple past and past participle reached or (obsolete) raught)

reaches (present singular third-person)
reaching (participle present)
reached (participle past)
reached (past)
raught (obsolete participle past)
raught (obsolete past)
reach (infinitive)

From Middle English rechen, from Old English rǣċan (“to reach”), from Proto-West Germanic *raikijan, from Proto-Germanic *raikijaną, from the Proto-Indo-European *Hreyǵ- (“to bind, reach”).

der

when I hear the word culture, I reach for my gun

The particulars that reach from Eastern Bengal require corroboration.

1907, George Clifford Whitworth, Indian English: An Examination of the Errors of Idiom made by Indians in Writing English, page 122:

I reached at the right time.

1958, India. Ministry of Education, A Basic Grammar of Modern Hindi: English Version, page 33:

It should be noted that Hare Krishna Konar, an arch leftist, could not vote on the Bhupesh Gupta—S.K. Achaiya issue as he reached late.

1960, Gene Donald Overstreet, Marshall Windmiller, Communism in India, page 144:

In the event of your statement reaching later than 6th March, there will be chances of your requirement left and leading to difficulty of having to explain your excess or saving being as the case may be.

1975, India. Parliament. Public Accounts Committee, Epitome of the Reports of the Central Committee of Public Accounts from 1967-68 to 1970-71 (Fourth Lok Sabha) and of the Government Orders Thereon, page 144:

I suggest taking an earlier bus (say 6:00 p.m.), reaching at around midnight, then taking a taxi (might even be able to catch the last MRT) to Changi.

2004 February 18, Mr. Free Notes, “Getting bus from KL to Singapore leaving night, likely to be any delays in arrival?”, in soc.culture.singapore (Usenet):

When we reached at 7.30 a.m., we saw groups of men and women bracing themselves for the day's events by writing out posters or painting placards.

2009, Boria Majumdar, Nalin Mehta, India and the Olympics, page 218:

Once we reached, we parked our cars beneath the trees and started trekking up the hill after a brief round of introductions.

2012 April 26, Rakesh Chandrasekar, “Post Trek Mail II - Freshers Trek April 22nd Nagala West”, in The Chennai Trekking Club (Usenet):

(intransitive, India, Singapore) To arrive at a particular destination.


funda

en-noun

funda (countable and uncountable, plural fundas or fundae or fundaes)

fundas (plural)
fundae (plural)
fundaes (plural)

Contraction of fundamental, originating in Indian English.

Get your funda correct before you submit the paper.

What is the funda behind relativity?

1992 http://groups-beta.google.com/group/misc.invest/msg/0fe47958fa1d469a
In my opinion, the funda is as follows:

(India) Basics or fundamentals, considered as a unit.

You did not have the funda to realize that the statistics is an ass.

But then, your funda is weak.


tutti-frutti

tutti-frutti (countable and uncountable, plural tutti-fruttis)

From Sicilian tutti frutti (“all fruits”), so attested in 1838 for a kind of sorbet.

(India) Candied raw papaya (unripened papaya).


harry

(India, obsolete) A menial servant; a sweeper.


eh

Natural exclamation; first recorded mid-16th century. Perhaps an unstressed variant of aye (“yes, yeah”).
The Philippine sense is possibly influenced by Tagalog e and/or Spanish eh.

onomatopoeic

exclamation

These hot dogs are pretty good, eh?

Well, what dost thou think then of seeing the world? Do ye wish to go round Cape Horn to see any more of it, eh? Can’t ye see the world where you stand?

(informal, chiefly Canada, Northern US, New Zealand, Australia, UK, Ireland, South Africa, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Commonwealth) Used as a tag question, to emphasise what goes before or to request that the listener express an opinion about what has been said.


sit up

en-verb

sit up (third-person singular simple present sits up, present participle sitting up, simple past and past participle sat up)

sits up (present singular third-person)
sitting up (participle present)
sat up (participle past)
sat up (past)

From Middle English upsitten (“to sit up”).

(India, historical) For a young lady to open her house for several successive nights for any visitors who wish to pay their respects.


item

From Middle English item, from Latin item (“also; in the same manner”). The present English meaning derives from a usage in lists, where the first entry would begin in primis (“firstly”) or imprimis, and the other entries with item (“also, moreover”). Later, the members of lists were referred to as "items".

In this chapter, we will attempt to trace the course of initiation into the classical arts, from the self-taught gyrations of Bollywood items to the serious rigours of a classical Indian dance form.

2017, Nandita Chaudhary, Pernille Hviid, Giuseppina Marsico, Resistance in Everyday Life: Constructing Cultural Experiences, page 246:


homely

en-adj

homely (comparative homelier or more homely, superlative homeliest or most homely)

homelier (comparative)
more homely (comparative)
homeliest (superlative)
most homely (superlative)

From Middle English homly, hoomly, hamely (“domestic, familiar, plain, unattractive”), from Old English *hāmlīċ (“of the home, domestic”), from Proto-West Germanic *haimalīk (“of or characteristic of home”), equivalent to home + -ly. Cognate with Scots hamely (“familiar, personal, private”), West Frisian heimelik, Dutch heimelijk (“secret, secretive, clandestine”), German heimlich (“secret, secretive, clandestine, undercover”), Danish hemmelig (“secret”), Swedish hemlig (“secret, concealed, privy, covert”), Faroese heimligur (“homelike, homey”), Icelandic heimlegur (“homely; worldly”).

cog

I am seeking a beautiful homely girl for marriage.

(India) Conservative and family-oriented.


shift

en-verb

shift (third-person singular simple present shifts, present participle shifting, simple past and past participle shifted)

shifts (present singular third-person)
shifting (participle present)
shifted (participle past)
shifted (past)

From Middle English schiften, from Old English sċiftan (“to divide, separate into shares; appoint, ordain; arrange, organise”), from Proto-Germanic *skiftijaną, *skiptijaną, from earlier *skipatjaną (“to organise, put in order”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeyb- (“to separate, divide, part”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to cut, divide, separate, part”). Cognate with Scots schift, skift (“to shift”), West Frisian skifte, skiftsje (“to sort”), Dutch schiften (“to sort, screen, winnow, part”), German schichten (“to stack, layer”), Swedish skifta (“to shift, change, exchange, vary”), Norwegian skifte (“to shift”), Icelandic skipta (“to switch”). See ship.

cog

We are shifting to America next month.

(intransitive, India) To change residence; to leave and live elsewhere.


Bollywood

Urduwood

Mumbai-based Hindi-language film industry

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) The Hindi-language film industry located in Mumbai.


blouse

→ Bengali: ব্লাউজ (blauj)

→ Gujarati: બ્લાઉઝ (blāujha)

→ Hindi: ब्लाउज़ (blāuz)

desc

→ Japanese: ブラウス (burausu), ブルーズ (burūzu)

→ Korean: 블라우스 (beullauseu)

1828, from French blouse (“a workman's or peasant's smock”), see that for more.
More at blee, fold.

bloes

an outer garment, usually loose, that is similar to a shirt

(India, Bangladesh) A short garment worn under a sari.


mixture

en-noun

mixture (countable and uncountable, plural mixtures)

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French misture, from Latin mixtūra (“a mixing”), from mixtus, perfect passive participle of misceō (“mix”); compare mix.

(India) A mix of different dry foods as a snack, especially chevda or Bombay mix.