urad

Borrowed from Hindi उड़द (uṛad), ultimately from Proto-Dravidian *uẓuntu

(botany, India cooking) Vigna mungo, a South Asian bean used to make dal.


anchal

en-noun

anchal (countable and uncountable, plural anchals)


kho kho

(India) An amateur sport played by teams of twelve players.


wineshop

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-wineshop.wav


kunjoos

Must have no desire to work
Must not mind husband being a kunjoos
Does not mind cooking, cleaning, and having a smile on her face always

1995, Simul Parikh, “Marriage Info...”, in rec.music.indian.misc (Usenet):

"Sala you are a kunjoos," he says. "Don't be mean. After I am going to be your brother-in-law." "Don't be presumptuous," I say.

2005, Manzur Murshed, Broken Milestones, page 433:

You really are kunjoos!" Sumati complained, her Ludhiana background asserting itself in the accent she gave the Hindi word for miser.

2007, Vivek Iyer, Whiskey's Secret, page 50:


HAL

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
w:Hindustan Aeronautics Limited

(India) Initialism of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.


third island chain

Indonesian Archipelago
Indonesian Archipelago

(politics, India) The Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands, Sumatra; from Burma in the north to either the Indonesian Archipelago, or Australia in the south.


andor

From Portuguese andor, from Malayalam, from Sanskrit हिन्दोल (hindola, “swinging cradle, hammock litter, dooly”). Compare dooly from Sanskrit दुल् (dul) via Hindi.

der

P. della Valle writes in the same strain: "And these two, the palankins and the andors [a kind of doli] also differ from one another, for in the andor the cane which sustains it is, as it is in the reti, straight; whereas in the palankin, for the greater convenience of the inmate, and to give more room for raising his head, the cane is arched upwards like this, _∩_..."

1916 July, Henry Yule & al., "Padre Maestro Fray Seb. Manrique in Bengal (1628–Sept. 11, 1629)", Bengal Past & Present, Vol. XIII, No. 25, p. 32

(India, historical) Synonym of dandy or hammock litter, a strong cloth suspended from a pole or set of poles used as an open sedan chair.

dandy or hammock litter

1498. — "After two days had passed he... came to the factory in an andor [i.e. a chowpaul] which men carried on their shoulders, and these... consist of great canes which are bent overhead and arched, and from these are hung certain cloths of a half fathom wide, and a fathom and a half long, and at the ends are pieces of wood to bear the cloth which hangs from the cane; and laid over the cloth there is a great mattrass of the same size, and this all made of silk-stuff wrought with gold-thread, and with many decorations and fringes and tassels; whilst the ends of the cane are mounted with silver, all very gorgeous, and rich, like the lords who travel so." — Correa, i. 102.

1886, Henry Yule & al., Hobson-Jobson, s.v. "andor"

1552. — "The Moors all were on foot, and their Captain was a valiant Turk, who as being their Captain, for the honour of the thing was carried in an Andor [i.e. a takhtrawan] on the shoulders of 4 men, from which he gave his orders as if he were on horseback." — Barros, II. vi. viii.

(India, archaic) Synonym of palanquin, used variously for nearly any kind of Indian litter.


kattan

(India, historical) The waste selvage in silk weaving, used for stringing ornaments.


dooly

From Hindi डोली (ḍolī), from डोला (ḍolā, “litter”) + -ई (-ī, “forming diminutives”), from Sanskrit दोल (dōlā, “dangling cradle; litter”), from दुल् (dul, “to swing”). Compare andor from Sanskrit हिन्दोल (hindola) via Portuguese.

The dhulí is a slight bamboo framework covered with coarse cloth, about two and a half feet square, with a bedding made of string woven across, on which the passenger sits. It is slung on a stout bamboo pole, and carried by two or four men.

1877, D. B. Allen et al., “A Statistical Account of Bengal”, in Districts of Gayá and Sháhábád, volume 12, pages 81-82:

He said I should not be able to ride much farther, as the pass beyond Sultanpoor was utterly impracticable for horses; coolies, however, awaited me with a dooly, one of those low litters slung on a bamboo, in which you may travel swiftly and without effort, but to the destruction of the digestive organs.

(India, now chiefly historical) A basic Indian litter or sedan chair made of poles, ropes, and a seat or cloth.

He also, in conjunction with Private John Ryan, rushed into the street under a heavy fire, and took Captain Arnold, 1st Madras Fusiliers, out of a dooly, and brought him into the house, that officer being again hit while they were so doing.

I thought at first I was as good as done for; however, on regaining a little strength, I looked around, and seeing none of our men in the place, and thinking it more than probable, from what I knew of their character, that the very men whom I had been endeavouring to save might take it into their heads to give me the "coup de grace" now I was left alone, I made a desperate effort, got on my legs, and managed to hobble out, when I soon found some of our men, who supported me until a dooly could be brought, into which I was placed, and was soon on my way to the doctor.

1840, T.W.E. Holdsworth, Campaign of the Indus:

(India, archaic) Synonym of stretcher, a basic litter used for transport of the ill and injured.

stretcher

(India, obsolete) Synonym of litter of whatever type.


sansad

(India, Hinglish, politics) A parliament, an assembly.


achari

Borrowed from Hindi अचारी (acārī), or another Indo-Aryan language.


chana

en-noun

chana (usually uncountable, plural chanas)

(India, cooking) A dish principally made from chickpeas or chickpea paste.


bocha

When the compilation by Williamson was first examined in order to correct his vulgar mode of spelling Hindoostanee words, a good while since, the number seemed so formidable, that innovation, even from a wrong system to a right one, was then indefinitely suspended; but... it would be unjust to postpone emendation any farther... incorrect... bochah,... correct... bocha.

1825, John Borthwick Gilchrist editing Thomas Williamson as The General East India Guide and Vade Mecum..., Appendix No. IV, pp. 652 & 658

Sir Salar Jung was proceeding to the palace of the Nizam on his bocha, a sort of state palanquin, in order to be present at the customary Eed durbar... when two shots in rapid succession were fired.

1868 February 7, "Englishman", "Attempted Assassination of Sir Salar Jung...", Hyderabad Times, Vol. III, p. 41

[…] the Amir-i-Kabir, seated in a "Bocha" (palanquin), had also arrived at the gate of the Royal Palace […]

1931, Server Jung Bahadur, translated by Bahadur Yar Jung, My Life, page 139:

[…] the bocha, the chair-palanquin […]

1995, The India Magazine of Her People and Culture, volume 16, page 17:

(India, historical) A two-door sedan chair.


UID

unique identification number
unique identification number#English

(India, politics) Abbreviation of unique identification number.


nothing doing

"I'll fix his clock all right."
"Nothing doing. I won't have it."

1917, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 11, in The Sheriff's Son:

"[P]erhaps you might sell them a submarine or some of your diving apparatus."
"Nothing doing, Ned. We've got other plans."

1920, Victor Appleton, chapter 1, in Tom Swift And His Undersea Search:

[T]he employes of Detroit's Bundy Tubing Co. wanted a raise of 18 1/2 cents an hour. Said Bundy flatly: nothing doing.

1946 November 4, “MANAGEMENT: Bundy Saves & Shares”, in Time:

[S]he'd consoled herself with a fresh plan: she'd refuse to go to her father when he came back. Nothing doing, she'd say.

2008, Preeta Samarasan, Evening is the Whole Day, →ISBN, page 255:

(dated, idiomatic, now chiefly India) Absolutely not; definitely no.


unique identification number

unique identification number (plural unique identification numbers)

(India, politics) A number assigned to each of the adult citizens and residents of India in order to identify them officially.


asur

(India, Hinduism) Alternative spelling of Asura.

This use of the word to portray the Bengal chief minister as the biggest challenger to the country’s two most powerful men, and especially their depiction as an asur or demon, did not go down well with supporters of the country’s ruling force, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP).


methi

From Hindi मेथी (methī), from Sanskrit मेथिका (methikā), ultimately from Proto-Dravidian *mentti (“fenugreek”).

Immediately, add the chopped methi leaves and cook on medium heat, stirring frequently for six to eight minutes, stirring continuously or until the methi leaves are completely cooked and dry.

2002, Sanjeev Kapoor, Khazana of Healthy Tasty Recipes, page 68:

Skip the free Russian-leaning appetizer salads, which are uniformly awful, and dive into a menu that includes excellent chicken methi and the tangy stewed mustard greens called sarsoka sag.

2004, Robert Sietsema, The Food Lover's Guide to the Best Ethnic Eating in New York City, page 264:


chota hazri

Borrowed from Hindi छोटा हाज़िरी (choṭā hāzirī).

bor

छोटी हाज़िरी

छोटा हाज़िरी

Hindi छोटा हाज़िरी (choṭā hāzirī)

‘Sorry, my dear; take your time…Was your chota hazri all right?’

1924, E. M. Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin 2005, page 200:


diya

She is given an aarti plate with a lit diya on it.

2023, Radhika Iyengar, Fire on the Ganges, Fourth Estate, page 285:

(India) A small bowl-shaped oil lamp, usually made from clay, with a cotton wick dipped in ghee or vegetable oil, often used on religious occasions.


pinpointedly

en-adv

pinpointedly (comparative more pinpointedly, superlative most pinpointedly)

more pinpointedly (comparative)
most pinpointedly (superlative)

Here his improvisations are pinpointedly focused on melody and swing, and he always has a mute in his trumpet; this is quiet jazz with organized locomotive force.

2008 May 11, Ben Ratliff, “Quiet Jazz, Roaring Noise, Hip-Hop Wizardry”, in New York Times:


karela

en-noun

karela (countable and uncountable, plural karelas)

From Hindi करेला (karelā), from Sanskrit कारवेल्ल (kāravella).

The roofs shall fade before it,
The house-beams shall fall,
And the Karela, the bitter Karela,
Shall cover it all!

1895, Rudyard Kipling, The Second Jungle Book:

Cut karelas into thin slices. Wash and rub two table spoons salt all over the karelas and its scrapings.

1998, Sanjeev Kapoor, Khazana of Indian Recipes:

Though unpleasantly bitter, karela tops the list of diabetes-friendly foods.

2006, Tarla Dalal, Diabetic Snacks, page 22:

Momordica charantia
Momordica charantia#Translingual

(India) Momordica charantia, the bitter melon or bitter gourd.


picturization

picturization (countable and uncountable, plural picturizations)

/pɪktʃəɹʌɪˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/

Toward the end of the film Nazu rushes into her bedroom, clamps on headphones and listens to the technopoppy "I Wanna Be Free." The picturization shows her moving convulsively, desperately to the funky beat, turning ever more agitated, until we wonder what she wants to be free from: free from her domestic vise, or free from life?

2005, Richard Corliss, Time, Profile of A.R. Rahman:

(India) The setting or coordination of soundtrack music of a motion picture to events or choreography onscreen


nupur

From Hindi नूपुर (nūpur, “anklet, nupur, ornament for the feet”), from Sanskrit नूपुर (nūpura, “anklet”).


Bombay duck

Uncertain. The first component may be a modification of Marathi बोंबील (bombīl), the local Marathi name for the fish. The second has been dubiously associated by folk etymology with dak (“Indian postal system”).

For her sake he recounted his Indian experiences — told of his arrival in India; […] of the Bombay Ducks, that celebrated European regiment, of whom every man could drink a quart of rum a day, and fight a pitched battle if need were.

1872, Sir George Webbe Dasent, Three to One, page 42:

(India, historical, slang) A member of the Bombay regiments of the East India Company's army.


byheart

en-verb

byheart (third-person singular simple present byhearts, present participle byhearting, simple past and past participle byhearted)

byhearts (present singular third-person)
byhearting (participle present)
byhearted (participle past)
byhearted (past)

While playing the kruthi, in the veena, the students have to byheart swara, sahitya in vocal then try to play it with the help of the masters to get all the gamakas in the form of sahitya.

1989, Gurikar Nanjundasastry Subramanyam, Veena:

(India, transitive) To recite from memory.

Another glaring disparity was that the Indian Veterinarian was then forced to byheart the doses of medicines, meant for European cattle and other domestic animals.

1967, N. B. Sen, Progress of education in free India:

They said that they had 'byhearted' all the pages. ln ancient times there was great emphasis on memorisation and memory training as word of mouth was the only means of transmitting texts in the absence of faculty of reproduction of […]

1980, Debi Prasanna Pattanayak, Jennifer Marie Bayer, H. L. N. Bharati, Literacy education:

(India, transitive) To commit to memory; memorise.


Bong

(India, sometimes offensive) A Bengali (from West Bengal).


jawar

en-noun

jawar (usually uncountable, plural jawars)

Sharankumar Limbale also recalls vividly […] how his grandmother collected remnants of undigested jowar grains from cow dung, washed and then dried them in the sun.

2023, Radhika Iyengar, Fire on the Ganges, Fourth Estate, page 93:

Sorghum bicolor
Sorghum bicolor#Translingual

(India) Sorghum, Indian millet (Sorghum bicolor).


jheel

Borrowed from Hindustani جھیل (jhel) / झील (jhīl).

(India) A pond, marsh, lake or similar wetland area, usually with significant vegetation providing shelter and/or food to a variety of aquatic and semi-aquatic animal species.


jawan

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ey-
Proto-Indo-European *h₂óyu
Proto-Indo-European *-Hō
Proto-Indo-European *h₂yéwHō
Proto-Indo-Iranian *HyúHā
Proto-Iranian *HyúHā
Classical Persian جوانbor.
Hindi जवान (javān)bor.
English jawan
Borrowed from Hindustani جوان (jvān) / जवान (javān), from Classical Persian جوان (jawān, “young, a youth”).

der

In any event we soon had the Army jawan sent by the Major with us in the boat and headed for shore.

1992, Satyindra Singh, Blueprint to Bluewater: The Indian Navy, 1951-65, page 402:

He obviously expected one of the senior army officials to walk over and talk to the jawan.

1999, R. D. Pradhan, Debacle to Revival: Y.B. Chavan as Defence Minister, 1962-65, page 44:

They could now see a whole lot of army jawans in gum boots looking for something in the mud.

2011, Deepika Phukan, The Story of Felanee, translation of original by Arupa Patangia Kalita:


devolvement

en-noun

devolvement (countable and uncountable, plural devolvements)

(banking, India) A process whereby if an investment issue is undersubscribed, an underwriter is required to subscribe to the remaining shares; the outstanding unsubscribed amount devolves onto the underwriter.


cutcherry

Borrowed from Tamil கச்சேரி (kaccēri, “office, administrative office”).

bor+

I walked through the ruins of the Fort of Bangalore ... it is not without some degree of magnificence. On the upper storey it contains four halls, each comprising two balconies of state for the prince, and each balcony faces a different Cutchery, or court for giving audience. No person, except a few trusty guards, were admitted into the hall with the Sultan: but at each end of the court was erected a balcony for the officers of the highest rank.

1807, Francis Buchanan, A Journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Cananara and Malabar, London:

(India) A hall used for business, political, or social assemblies, such as a magistrate's court or a building housing a public agency.


bigha

Colonel Watson had, within a brick wall, at least four hundred begahs of land, which the East India Company had executed a grant of to him to construct docks […] .

1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 208

(India, Bangladesh) A measure of land in India, varying from a third of an acre to an acre.


tum-tum

Uncertain. Perhaps onomatopoeia (of hooves or footfalls); compare tuk-tuk. Perhaps from tandem.

An optimistic old man was our driver; he needed all his optimism too, for his tum-tum was one of the most rickety I've seen , and his little pony very tiny. The balance of this vehicle was most important; we had to sit in certain definite positions ...

1914, Alice Maud Pennell, Pennell of the Afghan Frontier: The Life of Theodore Leighton Pennell, M.D., B. SC., F.R.C.S. Kaisar-i-Hind Medal for Public Service in India, page 414:

His fellow assistant, Dr Panna Lal, was in ecstasies at the prospect, and was urgent that they should attend it together in his new tum-tum.

1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin, published 2005, page 49:

(India) A dog cart; a rickshaw; a kind of vehicle.


budgerow

/ˈbədʒəˌroʊ/

In a short time after a budgerow lay beside the vessel, and notice was given that it came to convey about fifteen passengers on shore.

1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter XV, in Duty and Inclination: […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 218:

A double-masted houseboat of capacious dimensions, the budgerow’s hull was painted blue and grey, to match the Raskhali estate's livery […]

2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin, published 2015, page 39:

(India, chiefly historical) A kind of large river barge.


podder

B., a Podder in the Bank, demanded and took a reward for his trouble in receiving the money.

1880, Kedarnath Ghosh, Compendium of Criminal Rulings:

Five of these 100-rupee notes have been traced to a podder or money-changer in the Fort, who deposes that he received them from four soldiers in the Royal Fusiliers.

1915, Government Gazette: The United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, page 48:

He mentioned that he had no time to check the scrolls, and that the statement of the tellers and podders was quite false.


imposement

(obsolete, rare except India) Imposition.


datewise

(chiefly India) In terms of dates; chronological.


keyman

(India) A workman who checks a railway track for faults, and who carries a keying hammer.


glomerous

en-adj

glomerous (comparative more glomerous, superlative most glomerous)

more glomerous (comparative)
most glomerous (superlative)

From Latin glomerosus, from glomus. See glome.

The entire polypidom rarely exceeds half an inch in length, but when perfect the branches are bent and intertwined so as to form a little glomerous mass.

1847, George Johnston, A History of the British Zoophytes, 2nd edition, volume 1, page 276:

The glomerous vascular arrangement may render adjacent tissue ischemic by permitting by-pass of an already marginal blood supply.

1978, A. Chandrahasan Johnson et al., “Relation of vascular and osseous changes in leprosy”, in Skeletal Radiology, volume 3, pages 36–41:

Hymenocoleus axillaris Robbr.
Rubiaceae
[…]
Inflorescence: axillary, 2-7 pairs of glomerous inflorescences each with approx. 20 flowers

2004, Lourens Poorter, F. N. Kouame, Franciscus Bongers, W. D. Hawthorne, Biodiversity of West African Forests: An Ecological Atlas of Woody Plant Species, page 250:

(rare or India) Gathered or formed into a ball or round mass.


redressal

en-noun

redressal (countable and uncountable, plural redressals)


cookroom

[…] there is a cookroom and privy in the rear of the building, the latter being connected with the hospital by a covered passage.

1855, Pharoah and Co, A Gazetteer of Southern India, page 553:

(India, historical) A kitchen or room for cookery.


snakestone

snakestone (countable and uncountable, plural snakestones)

(India) A usually porous substance made from charred bones, earth, etc. and believed to cure snakebites.


abkari

abkari (countable and uncountable, plural abkaris)

From Persian آبکاری (âbkâri), from آبکار (âbkâr).

(India) The manufacture or sale of liquors or drugs.

(India) A revenue tax on the manufacture or sale of liquors and drugs.

आबकारी

tax on the manufacture or sale of liquors and drugs in India


sahibah

"Something that concerns you not at all, Sahibah," the Indian answered, his voice smooth as oil.

1915, Earl Derr Biggers, Robert Welles Ritchie, Inside the Lines:

(India, archaic) A lady; a mistress; a female superior (used as a term of respect).


surgeoncy

Before she is able to have her own practice, she has to complete her house surgeoncy.

1768, Ignatius Sancho, letter to Mr. J—W—E., in Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, London: J. Nichols, 3rd edition, 1784, pp. 4-5,
[…] his abilities, address, good nature, and good sense, have got him a surgeoncy in the batalion of guards, which is reckoned a very good thing.

(now chiefly India) The office or employment of a surgeon, either in the naval or military service, or in a hospital as a resident or house officer.


vakeel

From Urdu وکیل (vakīl) or Hindi वकील (vakīl), from Arabic وَكِيل (wakīl, “agent”).

(India, Pakistan) A native attorney, lawyer or agent.


musnud

(India) A raised seat with embroidery and pillows for the back and elbow. This forms the seat of honor, as in the zenana, where it is the seat of the lady of the house, and privileged visitors are invited to share it as a mark of respect and favor. It is also the ceremonial seat or throne of a rajah.


tindal

From Malayalam തണ്ടല് (taṇṭal) or Telugu తండేలు (taṇḍēlu), ultimately from Proto-Dravidian *tanḍal-.

One thing that continued unchanged was the division of the crew into two watches, each led by a tindal.

2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin, published 2015, page 16:

(India, dated) A petty officer among lascars; a boatswain's mate; a cockswain.

The party left the island about four o clock in the afternoon, and after a pleasant passage of three hours, arrived at the Jaffna Customs, where a most untoward event took place which tended greatly to mar the pleasure of the day: the unfortunate wag of a tindal not having brought a boat-note with him, the tide-waiters at the Custom-house detained all the oysters belonging to the party, which were immediately removed to the Custom-house and kept there under lock and key, pending the decision of the acting Controller of Customs!

1844, Peter Lund Simmonds, “The Pearl Fisheries of Ceylon”, in Simmonds's Colonial Magazine and Foreign Miscellany, volume 3, page 131:


patamar

(India, historical) A courier or messenger travelling on foot.


tyer

(India) Archaic form of tyre (“curdled milk”).


gobline

So, my dear Yudhishthira, the observance of the fast on the Jaya Ekadahee day saves the observer from falling into the low strata of ghosts, gobline and fiends, affords all the merits attainable by sacrifices, charities and penances and ensures pleasurable life in the Heaven for thousands of years.

In the paintings of the Ajanta caves, executed when Buddhism dominated north India, "the female, or Rākshasi, is represented as a gobline in the shape of a handsome woman, red, fair, or dark, with flowing hair, killing men and feeding on their flesh and blood" (Crooke 1907:238).

2004, Scott Atran, In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion, page 285:

The gobline tilted her head.

2013, T.J. Sidebottom, Contract Made After Death, page 406:


collectorate

From collector + -ate (forms nouns denoting rank or office).

af

(historical outside India) The district or seat of a collector of customs; a collectorship.


scise

From Latin scindere, scissum (“to cut, split”); form influenced by the unrelated excise.

We proceeded about half-a-mile very well; but the night was so wet, that our humanity induced us to make the scise get up on the foot-board.

1825, Robert Grenville Wallace, Forty years in the world, page 217:

"My horse! my horse!" cried he—and as he patted his war neck, the scise saw the fire of his tear-starred eye and trembled.

1826, “Parsee Rigour”, in The Atheneum, volume 18, page 79:

The bearer and the scise ( Sic ) , when they returned , came to the place where I was , and laid hold of Mr. Ducarell .

1882, Henry Elmsley Busteed, Echoes from Old Calcutta, page 230:

(India) Alternative form of sais (servant responsible for horses)


Adam-teasing

There may even be a report on 'Eve-teasing' (sexual harrassment of women), but nothing on Adam-teasing.

2002, Lonely Planet Publications, Delhi, 3rd edition, page 52:

They ignored men outside the premises of the school, but within its protective precincts they indulged in a bit of Adam-teasing.

2006, Prabhaker Acharya, The Suragi Tree, page 208:

Hardly surprising, then, that the first time I witnessed 'Adam teasing' , I nearly whooped with joy. There, trundling along Aurobindo Marg, came an autorickshaw packed with the loudest, most outrageous women I'd ever seen. […] The auto careened to a stop and out they spilled, surrounding some poor hapless chap, wiggling their hips at him, pinching his bum, their eyes flashing, tossing their proud manes, daring him to flirt back.

2010, Khushwant Singh, City Improbable, page 239:

(India, rare) The sexual harassment of men by women.


corle

(India, obsolete) A district or province.


tutenag

From French toutenague, from Portuguese tutenaga, tutanaga, from Tamil துத்தநாகம் (tuttanākam, “raw zinc”). Doublet of tutty.


panchway

From Bengali পানসি (panośi, “pinnace”), from English pinnace.

[A] Bengal boat called a paunceway came alongside, which Colonel Watson engaged to convey him to Calcutta.

1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 205

With a gesture of acknowledgement, Parimal retreated down the ladder and soon afterwards, a slim paunchway pulled away from the Raskhali budgerow to nudge up alongside the Ibis.

2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin, published 2015, page 42:

(India, now historical) A Bengalese four-oared passenger boat.


sunnud

From Hindi सनद (sanad), from Arabic سَنَد (sanad).


NRI

Reza had almost become an NRI. When he was very young, his family moved to Canada.

2020, Avni Doshi, Burnt Sugar, Hamish Hamilton, page 153:

w:Non-resident Indian and person of Indian origin

(India, law) Initialism of non-resident Indian. (an Indian citizen who is not treated as a resident by Indian income tax law).


coolung

(archaic, India) The common crane (Grus grus).


choultry

(India, historical) A Hindu caravanserai.


CBSE

Central Board of Secondary Education
w:Central Board of Secondary Education

(India) Initialism of Central Board of Secondary Education.


tatta

(India) A bamboo frame or trellis hung at a door or window of a house, over which water is allowed to trickle, in order to moisten and cool the air as it enters.


purree

(India) A measure of land said to be equivalent to about 3 acres


gadi

(India) A cushioned throne used by Indian princes.

I have thought we were friends and should still love to think so. However what has happened since August 9 last makes me wonder whether you still regard me as a friend. I have perhaps not come in such close touch with any other occupant of your gadi as with you.

1942 December 31, Mahatma Gandhi, “Letter on New Year’s Eve: May the New Year bring peace to us [Letter to Lord Linlithgow]”, in R. L. Khipple, editor, Famous Letters of Mahatma Gandhi, Lahore: The Indian Printing Works, published 1947, page 131:

(India, figuratively) The office or position of a monarch; throne.


chank

(India) The large spiral shell of several species of sea conch, much used in making bangles, especially Turbinella pyrum.


IPCC

(education, India) Initialism of Integrated Professional Competency Course: a course of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.


tazi

Borrowed from Persian تازی (tâzi, “dog breed”).

(India) A favourite variety of horse, usually of Indian breed.


abkar

Borrowed from Hindustani آبکار (ābkār) / आबकार (ābkār), from Classical Persian آبکار (ābkār), from آب (āb, “water”) (from Middle Persian ʾp̄ (āp, “water”), from Old Persian āpi-, akin to Avestan 𐬁𐬟𐬱 (āfš, “water”), Sanskrit अप् (ap, “water”), Lithuanian ùpė, Old Prussian appi (“river”)) + کار (kâr, “does”), akin to Sanskrit कर (kara, “doing, giving, effecting”).

cog

(India) A wine seller; one who is subject to the abkari tax.


digited

(nonstandard, non-native speakers' English, especially in India) Having a specified number or kind of digits.


sarkar

From Hindi सरकार (sarkār)/Urdu سرکار (sarkār), from Persian سرکار (sarkâr, “superintendent, overseer, chief”), compound of سر (sar, “head”) + کار (kâr, “agent, doer”).

uder

(historical) An administrative unit used mostly in the Muslim states of South Asia.


tentwallah

(India) A person who sells or hires out tents, mostly for weddings and parties.


beway

Perhaps from the phrase "by the way(side)", equivalent to by + way.

The Third Five-Year Plan with an industrial bias will no doubt, help the State of Kerala to make adequate beway in the matter of industrialisation which alone can pull up educated sons of India from their present low economic level.

1962, Indian National Congress. All India Congress Committee, Congress election souvenir:

It was further extended and the whole of Hijaz came under the beway of the Prophet in A.H. 8 when Makkah was conquered until this time there was hardly any administration, [...]

1988, Qamar-ud-Din Khan, H. M. Arshad Qureshi, Political concepts in Sunnah:

It goes without saying that when Lahore and Delhi Darbars were losing their royal glamour of art and culture, Patiala showed the beway in the whole of cis-Sutlej region.

1991, Sanjeev Prasad Srivastava, Art and cultural heritage of Patiala:

(rare, India) Movement; sway; influence.

But their greatness admitted, it had been pointed out again, and with pe[r]sistence, that Bengali drama had not progressed in any measure, and that there was too much of a beway to make up.

1949, Jagadiswarananda (Swami.), Girish Ghose and his dramas:

It is obvious from these figures that the tribals are educationally very backward and that special educational programmes will have to be undertaken for some considerable time to make up the beway.

1966, Virendra Kumar, Committees and Commissions in India:

There is a considerable beway to be made up in the provision of housing accommodation to workers.

1966, Raghuraj Singh, Ishwar Chand Singhal, Labour problems:

In the Fourth 5 year Plan special efforts are to be made to make up the beway in the field of girls' education.

1970, Orissa (India). Education Dept, The Orissa education magazine:

Thirdly, the absence of a strong and solid trade union movement which may secure to the workers their proper share in the gains of economic progress and which may also make for past beway in their standard of living makes it all the more incumbent upon the state …

1993, M. Gangadhara Rao, Odeyar D. Heggade And P.S. Yadapadithaya, Industrial Labour: Emerging Trends


pig-sticking

en-noun

pig-sticking (countable and uncountable, plural pig-stickings)

Swankey of the Body Guard himself, that dangerous youth, and the greatest buck of all the Indian army now on leave, was one day discovered by Major Dobbin tête-à-tête with Amelia, and describing the sport of pig-sticking to her with great humour and eloquence […]

1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair:

Have you heard any word
Of that bloke in the "Third" -
Was it Sotherby, Sedgewick or Sim?
They had him chucked out of a club in Bombay.
But apart from his mess bills exceeding his pay,
He took to pig-sticking in quite the wrong way.
I wonder what happened to him?

1945, Noël Coward, I Wonder What Happened to Him?:

(colloquial, dated, India, Anglo-Indian) The hunting of boars.


dowle

(India, historical or archaic) Alternative form of dooly (“basic Indian litter”)


denotify

en-verb

denotify (third-person singular simple present denotifies, present participle denotifying, simple past and past participle denotified)

denotifies (present singular third-person)
denotifying (participle present)
denotified (participle past)
denotified (past)

(transitive, India) To repeal the categorization of (a tribe) as criminal under the Criminal Tribes Act.


jaiphul

2 tsp nutmeg powder/jaiphul

2011, Michael Swamy, East Indian Kitchen:


javitri

Sprinkle the ground nutmeg-onion-javitri mixture, zafrani and a few drops of milk evenly on the top.

1993, Philip Thangam, Flavours from India, page 22:

5 gms javitri powder

2000, Tanushree Podder, Dishes & Desserts, page 27:


abhisheka

/ˌə.bɪˈʃeɪ.kə/

Transliteration of Sanskrit अभिषेक (abhiṣeka, “consecration, anointing of a king”).

translit

I paid the head priest for the abhishekh and asked him if I could have some privacy for a few moments.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 115:

The origins os the abhisheka lay in Vedic ritual; it was an intricate procedure involving several baths and changes of vestments.

2016, Sunil Khilnani, Incarnations, Penguin, published 2017, page 145:

(India) A ceremony involving ritual washing, cleansing or anointing.

ဘိသိက်

Indian ceremony involving washing, cleansing and anointing


jeepable

en-adj

jeepable (comparative more jeepable, superlative most jeepable)

more jeepable (comparative)
most jeepable (superlative)

Presently, there are 200 kms. motorable double line roads, 182 kms. motorable single line roads, 109 kms. jeepable roads and 197 kms. less than jeepable ones.

1988, R. Swarup, Ranveer Singh, Social economy of a tribal village on Indo-Tibetan border, page 13:

My Samithi Headquarters was not jeepable and one has to wallow across a small river to reach that place.

2000, G. Surya Rao, Urban development with community initiatives: retrospect and prospect, page 103:

(India) Capable of being traversed or reached by jeep.


superbazaar

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-superbazaar.wav

(India) A supermarket or department store.


karanji

From scrumptious karanjis to ghee-laden anarsas and spiral chaklis, making sweets and savouries during Diwali has been a long-standing tradition.

2012 November 13, Reema Gehi, “Mithai as health tonic”, in Times of India:

(India) A sweet dumpling made with coconut.


anarsa

(India) A sweet pastry made with rice, jaggery, poppy seeds and milk.


chakli

en-noun

chakli (countable and uncountable, plural chaklis)

(India) A type of murukku that uses chickpea flour as well.


murukku

The offerings have names like Kerala murukku — savory pinwheels made from rice flour and gram (chickpea) flour, spiced with onion, cumin and chili.

2009 July 12, Valerie Peterson, “The Lentils and Spices for a Dal All Your Own”, in New York Times:

(India) A snack usually made of rice or urad dal flour, formed into a twisty shape.


is it

- I'm feeling tired.

- Is it?

2007, Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip, "Thou Shalt Always Kill" on Angles
Thou shalt not express your shock at the fact that Sharon got off with Brad at the club last night by saying "is it?"

"I mean what now - the bet is cancelled but they are both going to ask her, is it?"

2008, Nicholas Drayson, A Guide to the Birds of East Africa, page 187:

(Canada, South Africa, India, MLE, MTE) really? is that so?


guzzy

guzzy (countable and uncountable, plural guzzies)

From Persian [Term?] and Hindi गज़ी (gazī). Possibly connected to guz/gaz, the fabric having been made a guz in length.

[…]a double sheet, made of very coarse cotton cloth, called guzzy; of which tents are usually constructed.

1810, Thomas H. Williamson, The East India Vade-Mecum, page 52:

(archaic, India) A kind of coarse cotton cloth.

Arthur Coke Burnell
Henry Yule
Hobson-Jobson
John Murray (publishing house)
William Crooke


PTI

Press Trust of India
w:Press Trust of India

(India) Initialism of Press Trust of India.


open shop

en-verb

open shop (third-person singular simple present opens shop, present participle opening shop, simple past and past participle opened shop)

opens shop (present singular third-person)
opening shop (participle present)
opened shop (participle past)
opened shop (past)

Rosenman left Sandollar to run Brillstein-Grey’s movie division for two years. He then opened shop as an indie producer, developing such films as the Beacon Communications comedy “Family Man,”.

1999 March 25, Michael Fleming, “Rosenman and Baum reteam”, in Variety:

(US, India) To begin work or operations.


abwab

From Hindi अबवाब (abvāb), from Persian ابواب (abvâb), from Arabic أَبْوَاب (ʔabwāb, “doors, sources of revenue”), plural of بَاب (bāb, “door”).

der

(India) A tax, or impost, levied by a chief on a landowner.


NECC

National Egg Coordination Committee
w:National Egg Coordination Committee

(India) Initialism of National Egg Coordination Committee.


khaman

(India) An Indian food, visually similar to cake and compositionally similar to dhokla, made from a batter of gram flour (from chickpeas), cooked by steaming.


freeship

(India) A studentship offered at no cost to the student.


lady's finger

Abelmoschus esculentus
Abelmoschus esculentus#Translingual

(chiefly India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei) Okra; an edible capsules of Abelmoschus esculentus.


morchal

(India, historical) A fan or flywhisk made from peacock feathers.


seatworm

Strongyloides stercoralis
Strongyloides stercoralis#Translingual

(UK, Australia, India) Strongyloides stercoralis


paan

en-noun

paan (countable and uncountable, plural paans)

Borrowed from Hindi पान (pān).
Possible doublet of fern via Proto-Indo-European *pornóm.

‘I am an Indian, it is an Indian habit to take pan. The Civil Surgeon must put up with it.’

1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin, published 2005, page 13:

A paan consists of chopped or shredded nut (always referred to as betel nut, though in fact it comes from the areca palm), wrapped in a leaf (which does come from the betel tree).[…]The triangular package thus formed is wedged inside your cheek and chewed slowly, and in the case of chuna and zarda paans, spitting out the juice as you go.

2003, David Abram, Nick Edwards, The Rough Guide to South India, Rough Guides, page 52:

Perched outside Madhavbagh Temple, decorated with antique mirrors, this 100-year-old shop serves up juicy paans, plump with mawa.

2005, Rashmi Uday Singh, Mumbai by Night, page 142:

Preparing a paan is simple. The leaf is first cleaned with water and dried. It is then covered with a thin layer of lime paste. In north India, paan sellers then spread red-coloured syrup (extracted from a native plant) over the lime paste.

2006, M. R. Narayan Swamy, New Delhi, page 31:

(India) A psychoactive preparation of betel leaf combined with areca nut and/or cured tobacco, chewed recreationally in Asia; such a preparation served wrapped in the leaf.


wheatish

en-adj

wheatish (comparative more wheatish, superlative most wheatish)

more wheatish (comparative)
most wheatish (superlative)

(India) Having a light brown complexion.


chota

Jemdanee announced to me that she was in a family way, expressing her earnest desire that it might prove ‘a chuta William Sahib’.

1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 393

I tell this to the Chota Sahib.


Trichy

(India, informal) Tiruchirappalli (a district of Tamil Nadu, India)


darsana

In presenting its ‘view’ of the truth, each darśana is as it were describing what it is that its practitioners will ‘see’.

2000, Sue Hamilton, Indian Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction, OUP, published 2001, page 12:

(India philosophy) A philosophy, worldview.


sangeet

Borrowed from Hindi संगीत (saṅgīt), from Sanskrit संगीत (saṃgīta), from सम्- (sam-, “together”) + गीत (gīta, “song”).

pre

Justin Bieber landed in Mumbai this week to perform at the couple's sangeet, or musical ceremony, where guests mingled with Indian film and cricket stars.

2024 July 13, Chris Kay, “Elite arrive for Ambanis' big rich Indian wedding”, in FT Weekend, page 4:

(India) A gathering for the purpose of singing songs; a musical ceremony.


saffronize

en-verb

saffronize (third-person singular simple present saffronizes, present participle saffronizing, simple past and past participle saffronized)

saffronizes (present singular third-person)
saffronizing (participle present)
saffronized (participle past)
saffronized (past)

(India, politics, derogatory) To subject to saffronization.


Hindutvavadi

Transliteration of Hindi हिंदुत्ववादी (hindutvavādī).

translit

हिंदुत्ववादी

(India) A supporter of Hindutva, or Hindu nationalism.


saffronization

From saffron + -ization, after the saffron robes worn by Hindu priests and monks.

Given the 'saffronization' of Congress, the 'ethnoreligious purification' of the BJP, and the parturition of the avowedly secular parties (CPI, SJP and BSP) […]

1993, Harold Alton Gould, India votes: alliance politics and minority governments in the ninth and tenth general elections, page 308:

The saffronization of the Shiv Sena, and the fusion of its Maratha-kunbi chauvinism and communalism were natrual outcomes.

1999, Rajeev Bhargava, Multiculturalism, Liberalism, and Democracy, page 241:

The “value education” directives issued in the 81st Report encouraged, in the first instance, the “saffronization” agenda of the BJPled NDA government from 1999.

2015, S. Gupta, Consumable Texts in Contemporary India: Uncultured Books and Bibliographical Sociology:

(India, politics, derogatory) The politics of right-wing Hindu nationalism (Hindutva) that seek to make the Indian state adopt policies that recall and glorify Hindu cultural history and heritage of India at the expense of other religious traditions.

Dravidization

alteration in favour of Dravidian nationalism or separatism


clean chit

en-noun

clean chit (countable and uncountable, plural clean chits)

(India) A (usually oral) exoneration given by law enforcement agencies to suspects in a crime, likely to be flawed.


cooja

From Hindi कूज़ा (kūzā), from Persian کوزه (kuza).

Let us take a peep into the bechoba. All hushed and quiet. A piece of camp able close to the tent wall, and on it a tumbler of cocoanut [sic] oil, with a lighted wick floating on the surface. Here, also, a watch, a cheroot case, and cooja of drinking-water standing on a broken soup-plate.

1856, The Bombay Quarterly Review, volume IV, Bonbay: Smith, Taylor and Co., page 290:

(India) A wide-mouthed earthenware vessel for water.


physible

An expert evaluating the project of dairy finance by commercial banks has concluded that the financing to small producers for the dairying could be viable and physible business proposal.

1980, Indian Banking Today & Tomorrow - Volumes 5-6, page 49:

Rehabilitation or restitution and social sheltering are the subjects of long-run scheme, which may be fulfilled after the probable or physible study and after settlement of the certain objectives.

2001, Shanker Kumar Shrestha, A step towards victim justice system: Nepalese perspective, →ISBN, page 118:

Also this technology was economically viable, biologically physible and socially acceptable.

2004, Proceedings, Technology Development Workshop, page 212:

Hence, any world order devoid of transformation in man is not physible.

2005, The Indian Journal of Political Science - Volume 66, page 447:

(especially India) Misspelling of feasible.


stepwell

(India) A well in which the water can be reached by descending a set of steps.


pariah kite

(India, dated) A subspecies of the black kite (Milvus migrans govinda), found in India, where it is a scavenger.


multicrore

(India) Of more than one crore in value.


mukhiya

I was having dinner with the village elders at the mukhiya's place when one of the servants announced that I had a visitor.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 593:

(India) A village chief or leader of a panchayat in parts of India and Nepal.


saas

(India) A mother-in-law, especially the mother of the groom, who lives with the married couple.


saas-bahu

(India, fiction) A genre of drama fiction concerning the relationship between the controlling evil mother of a husband (mother-in-law) and her dominated, downtrodden, meek daughter-in-law.


reserve bank

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

(Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa, and other countries) A central bank.


starrer

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has refused to certify Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer 'Haraamkhor' objecting to its theme which deals with a student-teacher romance.

2016 June 19, “Another Anurag Kashyap film faces trouble”, in The Times of India:

Although the selection appears noticeably short of major Hollywood names – with studios clearly preferring to hedge their bets and keep product back till the post-pandemic situation is clearer – Cannes has the Kate Winslet/Saoirse Ronan starrer Ammonite, directed by British film-maker Francis Lee.

2020 June 3, Andrew Pulver, “Cannes selects lineup for 2020 edition after 'physical' festival shelved”, in The Guardian:

(UK, India) A film featuring a particular movie star.


padayatra

From Sanskrit पदयात्रा (padayātrā, “foot journey”); first used by The Hindu the 1950s.

bor

(by extension) A protest march or campaign tour.

(India) A journey undertaken on foot for religious, political, social or charitable purposes.


palak

From Hindi पालक (pālak), from Sanskrit पालक्या (pālakyā).

Chenopodium album
Chenopodium album#Translingual

(India, cooking) Spinach or similar greens (including Amaranthus species and Chenopodium album).


amlah

Conscious of his own misdoings, it was his object to prevent the Santal from taking his complaint to the courts, though even there a bribe to the clerks and amlahs was sufficient to secure his safety.

1990, Francis Bradley Bradley-Birt, History and Ethnology of an Indian Upland, page 177:

(India, historical) A court official in India.


nasbandi

(India) sterilization: vasectomy or tubal ligation


pradhan

(India, historical) An official in parts of India, equivalent to vizier in rank and function.


pathshala

Borrowed from Hindi पाठशाला (pāṭhśālā, “school”).

(India, historical) A kind of Hindu-run village school.


pativrata

Borrowed from Hindi पतिव्रता (pativratā).


harkara

(India, historical) A runner who carried mail; a messenger or courier.


Malabar Coast

From the former general inaccessibility and unimportance of the interior to European traders.

A Muncheel is a kind of litter, resembling a sea-cot, or hammock, hung to a long pole, with a moveable covering over the whole, to keep off the sun or rain. Six men will run with one from one end of the Malabar coast to the other, while twelve are necessary for the lightest palanquin.

1830, James Welsh, Military Reminiscences, volume II, page 142:

(India, chiefly historical) Synonym of Malabar, forming the southwest coast of India, now principally the state of Kerala.

(India, historical, inexact) The entire western coast of India.


substitute teacher

en-noun

substitute teacher (plural substitute teachers)

(Canada, US, India, Ireland) A supply teacher.


lorry driver

(British, Ireland, India, Pakistan) A person employed to drive a lorry (truck).


gorru

The seed is then either sown broadcast and ploughed in twice, or else it is drilled in with the gorru and covered up and levelled with the guntaka.

1891, Sir George Watt, Linum to Oyster, page 579:

This is almost always done with a most ingenious drill, called in Telugu a gorru, and hardly ever by sowing broad-cast. The gorru has either three teeth or six. Three is the usual number.

Part of one field was sown with the gorru by the 25th, but the remainder of this field and all the others were sown only after November 1st, because the almost daily rain made the land unworkable.

1908, Madras (India : Presidency). Dept. of Agriculture, Report on the Operations of the Dept. of Agriculture, Madras Presidency, page 23

A team consists of one air with three-tined gorru, tines 10 inches apart, one pair with guntaka, two drivers and one or two women (if mixed crop) and they will drill 2½ acres a day, working the guntaka before and after the drilling.

1916, Agricultural College (Coimbatore, India), A Note-book of Agricultureal Facts and Figures, page 35:

Gorrus or indigenous seed drills, with one and two seed hoppers, and akkadi tied to the second tine of the drill on the right. There are different sizes of gorrus suitable for sowing different crops.

1960, V. T. Subbiah Mudaliar, South Indian Field Crops: By V.T.Subbiah Mudaliar:

Nitrogen and P205 are to be applied in gorru lines and covered before sowing.

1973, Farm and Factory - Volume 8, page 34:

Bullock drawn hoes are worked to remove weeds in those fields where the crops are sown with Gorru.

1979, Andhra Pradesh (India), Bh Sivasankaranarayana, M. V. Rajagopal, Andhra Pradesh District Gazetteers: Visakapatnam, page 66:


tanky

From tank + -y (diminutive suffix). The noun sense is from the fact that the assistant of the navigator of a ship was also in charge of the ship’s water tanks, and later its rations when refrigeration was introduced.

(India) A storage tank, especially for water.


seniormost

The Senate does not make a judgment that reflects on the professionalism, the character, and behavior of the Navy's seniormost officer, and that, too, is not a small matter.

1873, United States Congress, Congressional Record, Washington, Congress, page 7734:

The best example we have is that of the Lozi of central Africa, described by Gluckman (1955); but there are many other similar, if less well described, systems in Africa and elsewhere. In other societies, certain roles, only partly political and jural in content, carry the obligation and the right to adjudicate or at least arbitrate in disputes and to give considered opinions and decisions with some expectation of their acceptance and enforcement. Examples of such roles are lineage head, ritual leader, agegroup leader, band leader, village head, seniormost kinsman, secret-society official, and the like.

1901, Hermann Wunderlich, Der Deutsche Satzbau, Stuttgart, J. G. Cotta, pages 24-25:

The characterization and contrasting of sections as parent or child, male or female, and variations thereon including 'father' and 'son', 'seniormost father' and 'juniors', is repeated over and over again in various contexts.

1977, Savanna, Volumes 6-7, Ahmadu Bello University, page 111:


UP

To study old photographs from UP villages like the one where Ram Dass lived is to be reminded of how rural history writes upon the body.

2017, Sunil Khilnani, Incarnations, Penguin, page 402:


childline

From child + line, from the company name ChildLine.

A childline service has been initiated by the ministry under the integrated programme for street children.

2004, J. S. Rajput, Encyclopaedia of Indian Education: A-K, page 239:

At the time of the Gujarat earthquake, the Childline India Foundation (CIF) had been established with childlines in several cities and district towns of India.

2007, Lena Dominelli, Revitalising Communities in a Globalising World, page 306:

The Committee, Special Juvenile Police Units, public servants, childlines, voluntary organizations, social workers and the children themselves may refer a child to such shelter homes.

2010, Vijay Hansaria, P. I. Jose, Juvenile Justice System, page 239:

(India) A telephone counselling service for children and young people.


bed tea

bed tea (countable and uncountable, plural bed teas)

The day was pretty fully taken up by a well-defined routine: 6 a.m. chota-hazri (bed tea and some fruit); seven to eight, riding, bath, then breakfast at nine. . . .

1955, S. K. Kirpalani, Fifty Years with the British, published 1993, →ISBN, page 92:

Bed tea or chota hazari (small breakfast), as we used to know it when I was a child in Calcutta during the last days of the raj, is one of the luxuries of my life in India.

1991, Mark Tully, No Full Stops in India (1992 Penguin edition), (Google preview)

His cap and white gloves were perfect whether he was delivering the bed tea at 8am or bringing me a china hot water bottle just before midnight.

1996 April 13, Justine Hardy, “Travel: That elusive, smart and affordable hotel is only just around the corner”, in The Independent", UK, retrieved 2014-03-24:

You'll be woken each morning with a tray of cookies and ‘bed-tea’, which is made using leaves plucked from the plantations outside your window.

2013 June 6, "India's Top Romantic Resorts: Glenburn Tea, Estate Darjeeling, India Times (retrieved 24 March 2014)

(India, Pakistan) A serving of tea shortly after awakening in the morning.


covil

Borrowed from Tamil கோவில் (kōvil, literally “god-house”).


padwal

en-noun

padwal (countable and uncountable, plural padwals)

Borrowed from Marathi पडवळ (paḍvaḷ), from Old Marathi 𑘢𑘚𑘪𑘯 (paḍavaḷa), from Maharastri Prakrit 𑀧𑀟𑁄𑀮 (paḍola), from Sanskrit पटोल (paṭola), ultimately from Proto-Dravidian *puḍala.


baingan

baingan (usually uncountable, plural baingans)

(India, uncommon) An eggplant; a brinjal.


pre-pone

en-verb

pre-pone (third-person singular simple present pre-pones, present participle pre-poning, simple past and past participle pre-poned)

pre-pones (present singular third-person)
pre-poning (participle present)
pre-poned (participle past)
pre-poned (past)


strike work

strike work (third-person singular simple present strikes work, present participle striking work, simple past struck work, past participle struck work or stricken work)

strikes work (present singular third-person)
striking work (participle present)
struck work (past)
struck work (participle past)
stricken work (participle past)

About nine hundred bakers, it is said, struck work on Saturday night, in consequence of their wages not being raised.

1799, The Lady’s Magazine, volume 30, page 525:

[…] whenever they’ve got a point to gain, no matter how unreasonable, they’ll strike work.

1848, Elizabeth Gaskell, chapter 16, in Mary Barton, volume 1, London: Chapman and Hall, page 286:

1871, David Livingstone, journal entry dated 11 February, 1871, in Horace Waller (ed.), The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, London: John Murray, 1874, Volume 2, Chapter 4, p. 99,
Men struck work for higher wages: I consented to give them six dollars a month if they behaved well; if ill I diminish it, so we hope to start to-morrow.

The strike, which is into its third day, has raised serious ethical questions whether doctors should strike work at the cost of patients.

2017 March 16, “Patients left in lurch as doctors continue strike”, in The New Indian Express:


recarpet

recarpet (third-person singular simple present recarpets, present participle recarpeting, simple past and past participle recarpeted)

recarpets (present singular third-person)
recarpeting (participle present)
recarpeted (participle past)
recarpeted (past)

(transitive, India) To resurface (a road).


chhatri

Borrowed from Hindi छतरी (chatrī, “umbrella, canopy”).

They were close to the promontory of the tombs, and had looked straight into the chhatri of the Rajah's father through an opening in the trees.

1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin, published 2005, page 298:

(India) An elevated dome-shaped pavilion in Indian architecture.


kitty party

(India, Pakistan) A regular party, usually organized by women, where each member contributes a certain sum of money.


mithai

Mr. Alam and his staff often insist that visitors enjoy a free treat like chocolate barfi, condensed milk mixed with chocolate, or jalebis, deep fried rice flour coated in a sugary syrup, while they shop. “I want my customers to feel welcome and offering mithai is a way to show hospitality,” Mr. Alam said.

2018 January 17, Shivani Vora, “A Go-To Grocery for Indian Cooks”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Central to that celebration is mithai, or sweets. Mass-produced mithai are readily available online, but these five independent shops make their sweets by hand every day, offering their local South Asian communities a taste of the familiar.

2022 October 17, Priya Krishna, “It’s Not Diwali Without Mithai”, in The New York Times:


IIT

Two years ago, when he’d started high school, Ma and Papa had launched a campaign to get him into IIT, hunting down private tutors who guaranteed success on billboards in Hazratganj city centre, finding question papers from previous years, notes from illustrious seniors, advice from inspirational students.

2023, Santanu Bhattacharya, One Small Voice, Fig Tree, page 79:

Indian Institute of Technology
w:Indian Institute of Technology

(education, India) Abbreviation of Indian Institute of Technology.


overstayal

en-noun

overstayal (countable and uncountable, plural overstayals)


make a move

en-verb

make a move (third-person singular simple present makes a move, present participle making a move, simple past and past participle made a move)

makes a move (present singular third-person)
making a move (participle present)
made a move (participle past)
made a move (past)

He swallowed hard on his tea. —Well, ah must be making a move. Thanks again.

1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, “The First Shag in Ages”, in Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 149:

“We'll give you a lift, darling,” Lady Genevieve said languidly, rising. “It's time we made a move.”

2000, Carola Dunn, Rattle His Bones (2011 Macmillan ed.), p. 173 (Google preview)

"Do you want to stay for another or shall we make a move?"
He looks at his watch. "Yeah, let's go."

2006, Roberta Kray, The Debt, paperback edition, →ISBN:

“Should we make a move?” she asked over the music. “We could find a place to dance. or we could go back to our place.”

2009, Dan Katz, Dave the Detective: Book #2 Identity Crisis, →ISBN, page 150:

(idiomatic, chiefly UK and India) To depart from a place; to set off.


goshala

Borrowed from Hindi गोशाला (gośālā), from Sanskrit गोशाला (gośālā).

(India) An animal shelter for cows, which are sacred in Hinduism.


pinjrapole

Borrowed from Gujarati પિંજરાપોળ (piñjrāpoḷ).

bor+

(India) An animal shelter of a type found almost entirely in Gujarat.


garden house

When Dalim became reanimated at night he ate whatever food he liked, for of such there was a plentiful stock in the garden-house, walked about on the premises, and meditated on the singularity of his lot.

1912, Lal Behari Dey, Folk-tales of Bengal, Life's Secret:

A[rthur] C[oke] Burnell
w:Arthur Coke Burnell

(India, historical) An Anglo-Indian suburban villa.


especialize

en-verb

especialize (third-person singular simple present especializes, present participle especializing, simple past and past participle especialized)

especializes (present singular third-person)
especializing (participle present)
especialized (participle past)
especialized (past)

(nonstandard, non-native speakers' English, especially in India) Misconstruction of specialize.


jhinga

We ordered a jhinga masala and some papadams.


pudhina

Once we made Pudhina Chutney and left it on the grinding stone as we forgot to bring to ^([sic]) the dining table. Next morning we found a rodent quite dead near that stone. It is still a mystery if our Pudhina Chutney was the cause.

2003, Raj Dore, Tandoori Texan Tales, page 218:

In Hotel Vinayaka Muruga, one can order a dosa with none, any, some or all of coconut chutney, pudhina chutney, onion chutney, chilli sauce or red chilli powder. How many possible orders of a dosa are possible?

2009, T. Sengadir, Discrete Mathematics and Combinatorics, page 165:


marah

(India, historical) A gratuity in the form of deductions from the gross produce of cultivated lands, granted to a mirasidar.


pigsticker

(UK, India) A horse well-suited to hunt wild boar.


boxwallah

(India, historical) An Indian pedlar who sold goods from a box or trunk.


dudhwallah

Borrowed from Hindi दूधवाला (dūdhvālā, “milkman”). See wallah.

[…] the butter comes out of a tin, and so does the milk, unless it is the grey watery catlap of the dudh-wallah.

1934, George Orwell, chapter 4, in Burmese Days:

2004, Neela Vaswani, "Possession at the Tomb of Sayyed Pir Hazrat Baba Bahadur Saheed Rah Aleh" in Where the Long Grass Bends, Sarabande Books, 2012, https://books.google.ca/books?id=ZQ5XgmT63mwC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
The dudh-wallah hands Nanak a large cup of lassi and a small cup of milk.


arrey

The dhoti-clad Indian mystic's anger simmered, dangerously close to exploding. 'Arrey! This is just not done in our Indian culture!'

2007, Sonja Chandrachud, The Potion of Eternity:

'Arrey baba! How much will you study?' Ma strode into my room with a glass of Bournvita.

The boy screamed, ‘Arre, arre, don't! Don't you dare!’

2023, Radhika Iyengar, Fire on the Ganges, Fourth Estate, page 26:

(India) Expressing surprise or alarm; hey.


manisided

en-adj

manisided (comparative more manisided, superlative most manisided)

more manisided (comparative)
most manisided (superlative)

The personality of Yikramāditya was manisided and unique in several ways.

1951, Rajbali Pandey, Vikramāditya of Ujjayinī: The Founder of the Vikrama Era, Shatadala Prakashana, page 259:

After having reviewed some of the main currents in Iqbal's thought without entering in a detailed discussion about their philosophical importance or their practical implications, we may ask ourselves once more: what is the outstanding feature in the manisided personality of the philosopher-poet?

1963, Annemarie Schimmel, Gabriel's Wing: A Study Into the Religious Ideas of Sir Muhammad Iqbal, E. J. Brill, published 1963, page 377:

The doctrine of syādvāda is nothing but systematic description of manisided nature of reality in words.

The next article of this section is a concluding one in the series by Ph.D.Candidate, History and adviser to the Russian Embassy in Venezuela S. Krilov is devoted to the problems of manisided diplomacy in regional and subregional international organizations and forums as well as interregional and collective diplomacy.

2002, Obozrevatelʹ - Issues 7-12, page 7:

(now rare or chiefly India) Alternative spelling of many-sided


ball pen

→ Japanese: ボールペン

→ Korean: 볼펜 (bolpen)

desc

→ Burmese: ဘောပင် (bhau:pang), ဘောလ်ပင် (bhaulpang)

→ Tagalog: bolpen

(Hong Kong, Pakistan, India, Philippines) Short for ballpoint pen.


adati

en-noun

adati (countable and uncountable, plural adatis)

(India, historical) A fine Bengal muslin or cotton cloth.


chattee

In the midst of the jungle grows a circle of palm trees, and in the centre of the circle stand six chattees full of water, piled one above another: below the sixth chattee is a small cage, which contains a little green parrot.

1868, Mary Eliza Frère, Old Deccan Days, page 14:


chakravartin

Borrowed from Sanskrit चक्रवर्तिन् (cakravartin).

(India, religion) An ideal universal ruler, who rules ethically and benevolently over the entire world.


creamy layer

other backward class
other backward class

(India) The relatively wealthy and well-educated members of the other backward classes, not eligible for government benefit programs.


other backward class

other backward class (plural other backward classes)

(India) Any of the castes officially recognised by the government as being educationally and socially disadvantaged.


jumma

From Hindi [Term?], from Arabic جُمْعَة (jumʕa).

(India, historical) The total assessment (for land revenue) from any particular estate, or division of country.


mai-baap

(India) Applied to a style of government that is a benevolent dictatorship or nanny state.


floorwise

floorwise building plans; floorwise area calculations

(India, nonstandard) Based on, or in terms of, the floor.


rabadi

bor

Hindi राबड़ी (rābṛī)

His wife, happy coincidence, had prepared my favourite sweet, rabadi.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 3:

You can serve rabadi plain or with chopped fruits and nuts.

2007, Jyoti Pathak, Taste of Nepal, page 350:

Rabadi is traditionally used in desserts such as a pudding with nuts (Cream Pudding).

2011, Vasantha Prasad, Indian Vegetarian Cooking from an American Kitchen:

(India) A creamy dessert made from sweetened yoghurt.


purohit

From Hindi पुरोहित (purohit), from Sanskrit पुरोहित (purohita) from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰey-.

The purohit helps the pilgrim should he fall sick or have difficulties with officials.

1996, Lise McKean, Divine Enterprise, page 327:

At the end of a long drawn-out ceremony, the purohit put a tilak on his forehead.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 42:

The purohit then comes back to conduct the bridegroom and his followers to the bride's house accompanied by the musicians.

2006, Shyam Singh Shashi, The World of Nomads, page 66:


saat phere

He had to be helped up and steadied for the saat phere.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 44:

In HINDUISM the couple takes SAAT-PHERE, in other words the couple circles round the fire for seven times, while the priest recites religious verses.

2010, Sher Gill, The Way to God, page 140:

So, did your parents have a romantic love affair followed by the saat phere or did it all happen the conventional way?

(India) The ‘seven steps’ or circuits taken around a sacred fire by the bride and bridegroom at a wedding ceremony, or the seven vows recited during this ceremony.


angarkha

Etymology tree
Prakrit 𑀅𑀁𑀕 (aṃga)
Prakrit 𑀭𑀓𑁆𑀔 (rakkha)
Prakrit 𑀅𑀁𑀕𑀭𑀓𑁆𑀔 (aṃgarakkha)
Hindi अँगरखा (aṅgarkhā)bor.
English angarkha
Borrowed from Hindi अँगरखा (aṅgarkhā), from Prakrit 𑀅𑀁𑀕𑀭𑀓𑁆𑀔 (aṃgarakkha), from 𑀅𑀁𑀕 (aṃga) + 𑀭𑀓𑁆𑀔 (rakkha).

etymon

I didn't need her to take my shoes off and then my turban and the angarkha.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 37:

And the thin muslin that made up his angarkha came all the way from Dacca in Bengal, which was the most famous centre of muslin weaving in the eighteenth-century world.

2012, Frank Trentmann (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the History of Consumption, page 148:

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

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

(India) A traditional outer upper garment worn by men, tied using strings in place of buttons.


pitambar

He wears a pitambār – a costly silk garment, which is his traditional dress.

1950, AJ Agarkar, Folk-dance of Maharashtra, page 78:

Her gods and goddesses sat on a yellow pitambar which covered a raised platform.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 76:

Indeed she did have a pitambar in her trunk. She had bought it a long time ago and forgotten about it.

2008, Vinny Chitluri, Baba's Vaani: His Sayings and Teachings, page 17:


bhavai

From Gujarati ભવાઇ (bhavāi), perhaps from Sanskrit भाव (bhāva, “expression, emotion”).

der

In the courtyard of the Ambaji temple near Mount Abu the Navaratri festival is celebrated with Bhavai performances.

1992, Manohar Laxman Varadpande, History of Indian Theatre, volume 2, page 174:

She was not in the Princess' hair all the time nor did she watch her like a comic spy in a high drama of intrigue and discovery from a bhavai.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 75:

By introducing “literary drama,” Westernized theatre on the subcontinent also led to a rejection of such popular forms as the jatra of Bengal, the bhavai of Gujarat, and the tamasha of Maharashtra as “debased” and “corrupt.”

2009, Aparna Bhargava Dharwadker, Theatres of Independence, page 135:

(India) A type of folk theatre from Gujarat.


vaidya

Like the sannyāsī, the religious ascetic, moreover, the vaidya did not adhere rigidly to the stringent rules of ritual purity which regulated the lives of the ordinary members of the higher classes.

1976, Charles M Leslie, Asian Medical Systems: A Comparative Study, page 37:

‘You lie down quietly and I'll run and tell the vaidya that it's nothing but a thorn in your foot.’

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 98:

If a prescribed sēva such as the feeding of Brahmans or the poor was not carried out by a patient, then the vaidya considered himself likely to be affected by the patient's karma.

1996, Mark Nichter, Mimi Nichter, editors, Anthropology and International Health: Asian Case Studies, page 243:

(India) A practitioner of ayurvedic medicine.


maika

A woman typically reports feeling much better after visiting her maika, and it is sometimes thought that the health of her children is improved by their visiting their mother's brother's house.

1977, Kenneth David, editor, The New Wind: Changing Identities in South Asia, page 279:

These images reflect a married woman's fond, idealized recollections of her maikā, where she was relatively free and pampered and which she perceives as a land of (emotional) wealth and prosperity.

1996, Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger, Gender and Genre in the Folklore of Middle India, page 86:

This was the last indulgence she was permitted. It was meant to soften the severing of all connections with her maika.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 72:

(India) A woman's maternal village: the place where she grew up, especially as contrasted with her new home after marriage.


turra

From Hindi/Urdu, from Persian طره (torre).

The most ornate and flashy piece of clothing was the turban. It was red in colour with a might turra of gold thread.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 43:

Having earlier met Malik Nur Khan, and his tall, wiry father with in his black sherwani and white turban with a turra enhancing his height, I was somewhat more reassured.

1997, Bir Dodraj Mansingh, in Bikram Singh, Sidharth Mishr (Eds.), Where Gallantry is Tradition, p. 131

A headman of a village, called a Chaudhary or a Malik, would wear a Turra or a ridge on his turban.

2003, Tejwant Singh, The Bold Brave and Fearless, page 269:

(India) A feather-like ornament projecting from a tied turban.


jootha

(India, of food, utensils, etc.) Soiled by saliva and thus not suitable for somebody else to eat from.


rangoli

From Marathi रांगोळी (rāṅgoḷī), from Sanskrit रङ्ग (raṅga, “colour”). Compare also Hindi रंगोली / رَن٘گولی (raṅgolī).

In one corner of the room she had drawn an incredibly elaborate painting with rangoli powder of the Flautist and herself dancing the raas on the banks of the Jamuna.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 188:

The client is given the option of having multicoloured rangoli designs around the pyre, as well as the freshest flowers to decorate it.

2023, Radhika Iyengar, Fire on the Ganges, Fourth Estate, page 143:

(India) A geometric or stylized design on the floor (or other flat surface) made using small coloured granules, powder or flowers.


parijat

‘What are you betting?’ I looked out of the window. ‘The flowers from the parijat tree.’

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 355:

In order to completely carry out this bartā, she required a flower from the parijāt tree, a tree that does not grow in the heavenly city of Indra.

2008, Michael Charles Baltutis, The Festival of Indra, page 220:

She turned away and cleared the parijat flowers from the stone edge of the pool with a wet hand.

2013, Indu Sundaresan, The Indu Sundaresan Collection:

Nyctanthes arbor-tristis
Nyctanthes arbor-tristis#Translingual

(India) night jasmine (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis).


raatrani

Borrowed from Marathi रातराणी (rātrāṇī).

It was still dark and the raatranis had not withdrawn into themselves yet.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 278:

It was a pleasant evening up on the terrace with the breeze, a full moon and the sweet smell of the raatrani.

It was only when the rain stopped and the smell of the raat rani came pouring into the room that Arindam got up to leave.

2013, Sachin Kundalkar, translated by Jerry Pinto, Cobalt Blue:

(India) The night-blooming cestrum, Cestrum nocturnum.


chhatra

A gift of land is held to be complete in all its parts, when accompanied by a couch shell, a seat of honor, a chhatra, a good horse and a good carriage.

1838, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 7, part 2:

All the emblems of sovereignty including the chhatra were in place on Father's elephant and war was resumed.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 583:

Originally mounted on a circular drum was the dome or the hemispherical super structure crowned by a railed harmika and a chhatra.

2008, A Satish Babu, Tourism Development in India, page 89:


gopi

The gopis were, as usual, filling their pots with water on the banks of the Jamuna when the god with a thousand names took out a catapult and one by one broke the pots on their heads and ogled at the drenched ladies.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 413:

(India) Any of the milkmaids that were companions of Krishna in Indian mythology.


tykhana

The ‘basement’ Mr Prashad had saved from destruction seems in fact to have been the largest and best preserved Mughal tykhana to have survived in Delhi up to the present day […].

1993, William Dalrymple, City of Djinns, Penguin, published 2004, page 125:

(India) An underground chamber in which to keep cool during the heat of the day.


shabash

Borrowed from Hindi शाबाश (śābāś), from Classical Persian شاباش (šābāš), from the term شاد باش (šād bāš, “be happy”), from شاد (“joyful”) + باش (“be (imperative)”).

"'Shabash! coach-wan,' exclaimed the sahib; 'thou art a man, indeed, and shalt have Shere Bahadoor's skin as recompense for the hurt to thy stomach. Bid him come again.'

1899, Dr. Charles William Doyle, “How Nandha was Avenged”, in The Taming of the Jungle, page 147:

Shabash! Shabash! from every tongue, and mothers' hearts stood still

1920, Sir James Willcocks, “Hurnam Singh”, in With the Indians in France:

(India) An exclamation of praise for an achievement.


RAW

RAW is a well-known acronym in India for an organization whose detailed character and activities are not well-known. RAW stands for the Research and Analysis Wing either of India's prime minister's department or the cabinet's secretariat, which was established in 1968 to handle internal intelligence.

2008, Peter Lyon, Conflict Between India and Pakistan: An Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 140:

Research and Analysis Wing
w:Research and Analysis Wing

(India, acronym) Initialism of Research and Analysis Wing.


PWI

Pune Warriors India
w:Pune Warriors India

(India, sports) Initialism of Pune Warriors India.


Chrislamic

en-adj

Chrislamic (comparative more Chrislamic, superlative most Chrislamic)

more Chrislamic (comparative)
most Chrislamic (superlative)

“Commie Chrislamist goon @annavetticad also giving film reviews. Her hatred of Hinduism is quite appalling.”

(India, slang, politics, derogatory, religious slur) Associated with Christian missionaries or Islamist groups; opposed to Hindutva or Hindu nationalism.


swadeshi

PIE word
 *swé
Borrowed from Hindi स्वदेशी (svadeśī, “nationalist, patriotic; policy of nationalist self-sufficiency, swadeshi; proponent of the swadeshi movement”), from स्वदेश (svadeś, “one’s own country”) + -ई (-ī, suffix forming adjectives, or forming nouns meaning a person who does an action indicated by the stem). स्वदेश is derived from Sanskrit स्वदेश (svadeśa), from स्व (sva, “his or her own”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“(pronoun) self”)) + देश (deśa, “country; point, place”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to point out”)).

der

The Swadeshi movement in India is one which in certain of its aspects can be regarded with much sympathy. A spirit of patriotism is excellent, and the endeavour to engender and foster it, provided it is made along legitimate lines, calls for encouragement and not condemnation.

1906 September, “[Editorial Notes.] Missionaries Assaulted in a Swadeshi Riot.”, in The Church Missionary Intelligencer: A Monthly Journal of Missionary Information, volume XXXI (New Series; volume LVII overall), London: Church Missionary Society, […], →OCLC, page 713:

The Swadeshi movement, in its bad sense—the boycotting of foreign goods—has had no effect on imports as a whole, and even the articles specifically aimed at, cotton goods and sugar, have entered to an unparalleled extent in the last three years. The good side of the Swadeshi movement, the development of indigenous industries, is seen in the increased imports of textile machinery and metals.

1907 July, “Notes on Colonial and Foreign Banking, Finance and Commerce. [Indian Foreign Trade.]”, in The Bankers’, Insurance Managers’ & Agents’ Magazine, volume LXXXIV, number 760, London: Waterlow and Sons […], →OCLC, page 61:

The cry of the Indian "Insurgent" to-day is "Shiksha," (education,) education in all its phases and branches, both extensive and intensive; "Swadeshi," (home industries) and "Swaraj" (self-government).

1911 December 30, Basanta Koomar Roy, “Insurgency in India”, in Robert M[arion] La Follette, editor, La Follette’s Weekly Magazine, volume III, number 52, Madison, Wis.: Robert M. La Follette Company, →OCLC, page 8, column 1:

And yet long before this popular ebullition of excitement, I myself had given a thousand rupees, when I had not five rupees to call my own, to open a Swadeshi store and courted banter and bankruptcy.

1921 March 5, Rabindranath Tagore, “Chicago, March 5, 1921”, in C[harles] F[reer] A[ndrews], editor, Letters from Abroad, Triplicane, Madras, Tamil Nadu: S. Ganesan, published 1924, →OCLC, page 78:

My work should be, and therefore is, to organise the production of handspun cloth, and to find means for the disposal of the Khadi thus produced. [...] I swear by this form of Swadeshi, because through it I can provide work to the semi-starved, semi-employed women of India.

1929, M[ohandas] K[aramchand] Gandhi, “An Instructive Dialogue”, in Mahadev Haribhai Desai and Pyarelal Nair, transl., The Story of My Experiments with Truth: Translated from the Original in Gujarati, volume II, Ahmedabad, Gujarat: Navajivan Press, →OCLC, part V, page 572:

The anti-partition agitation with its vehement invective, its appeals to Hindu sentiment, its cry that Bengal as motherland, once rich and famous, had been torn in two despite the protests of her children, its proposals for enforcing a punitive boycott of foreign goods and supplanting them entirely by "swadeshi" indigenous products, its enlistment of students and school-boys in picketing operations, gave ample cover for the sedulous teaching of revolutionary doctrines.

1932, H[enry] Verney Lovett, “The Rise of an Extremist Party”, in H[enry] H[erbert] Dodwell, editor, The Cambridge History of India, volumes VI (The Indian Empire 1858–1918 […]), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, →OCLC, page 551:

When H[erbert] H[ope] Risley—writing in 1909 just after the swadeshi movement had introduced the possibility of mass agitational politics as well as he specter of communal violence in Bengal—contemplated the political implications of the caste system, he confirmed British assumption by declaring that caste opposed nationality and would hinder the growth of nationalist politics.

1996, Nicholas B. Dirks, “The Conversion of Caste: Location, Translation, and Appropriation”, in Peter van der Veer, editor, Conversion to Modernities: The Globalization of Christianity, New York, N.Y., London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 115:

Mahatma Gandhi was not only a politician but an economic, social and religious reformer too. He felt that if swaraj or self-government was to mean anything for the dumb millions of the country the national movement must touch all aspects of the villager's life. He also developed his scheme of the revival of charkha and the development of swadeshi.

2009, G. R. Madan, “Rural Community Development”, in Indian Social Problems: Social Disorganization and Reconstruction, 6th edition, volume 2 (Social Work), New Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra: Allied Publishers, published 2012, →ISBN, page 192:

With tension all around, the police laid siege to large areas of the city and started raiding various homes and educational institutions and whosoever was even remotely connected with nationalism and swadeshi were promptly arrested.

2013, Samir Bhattacharya, “The Honour of the Country Comes First Always and Everytime^([sic])”, in Nothing But!: Book 2: The Long Road to Freedom, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Partridge India, →ISBN, page 164:

The first Indian Industrial Conference meeting in 1905, bringing together industrialists from all over India, decided to "foster and extend the use of such manufactures in India in preference to foreign goods." That demand intersected with the emerging Swadeshi movement, which advocated Indian self-sufficiency, especially in cottons, and symbolized the confluence of cotton entrepreneurs and the emerging nationalist political elites.

2014, Sven Beckert, “The Return of the Global South”, in Empire of Cotton: A Global History, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, published November 2015, →ISBN, page 420:

Is this news? Not to [Mahatma] Gandhi, whose swadeshi campaigns of local self-reliance drew support away from the dominating colonial paradigm of pauperizing indigenous populations by making them producers of raw materials and consumers of value-added products, [...]

2014, Tom H. Hastings, “Part 2: Promote Nonviolent Conflict Management”, in A New Era of Nonviolence: The Power of Civil Society over War, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, section I (Ending Civil Wars), page 78:

(India, economics, politics, also attributively) A policy of nationalist self-sufficiency in India, involving the revival and promotion of domestic production and (originally) the boycott of British products.


gosha

Ultimately from Classical Persian گوشه (gōša, “corner”) likely through some Indian language.

(India, historical) Of a woman: in a socially imposed state of seclusion or purdah.


nonbailable

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-nonbailable.wav

(specifically, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia) In relation to an offence, not automatically eligible for bail.


nonplan

nonplan expenditure such as defence spending

(India, of resources, spending, etc.) Not part of a development plan.


nonveg

/ˈnɒnˌvɛd͡ʒ/

“You like nonveg?” he probed, extending the coffee cup to her. “I'm a born nonveg.”

2007, Manikarnika Lagu, The Silicon Mind:

Most restaurants use the terms veg and non-veg to denote whether they serve meat or not so if you can't manage without your meat then look out for a non-veg sign.

2013, Mark Kobayashi-Hillary, Outsourcing to India: The Offshore Advantage, page 44:

non-veg joke

“Dirty joke? As in toilet joke or non-veg joke?” he asked. “Obviously non-veg” she clarified.

2015, Harsh Pande, Hiccups: A love story with a difference:

(informal, chiefly India) Inappropriate, adult; not suitable for children.


IDBI

Industrial Development Bank of India
w:Industrial Development Bank of India

(India) Initialism of Industrial Development Bank of India.


bundh

Variant of bund, from Urdu بند; see that entry for more.

In wet bundhs, the brood fish stock is maintained throughout the year, […]

2002, G. N. Vankhede, Freshwater Fishculture, →ISBN, page 125:


saunth

Saunth is an appetizing, sweet-and-sour cooked sauce, often served with breads.

2000, Harish Johari, Ayurvedic Healing Cuisine, page 197:

The sweetness of onions still trapped within, the milky flavour of almonds combined with sensuous saffron, played up by the saunth and a hint of spices.

(India) A sweet chutney made from tamarind and ginger.


Raj

(India, journalism) Abbreviation of Rajasthan.


davakhana

Borrowed from Hindi दवाख़ाना (davāxānā).


mamlatdar

Borrowed from Hindustani مُعامَلات دار (muʻāmalāt dār) / मामलतदार (māmlatdār), Marathi मामलतदार (māmlatdār), Gujarati મામલતદાર (māmlatdār).

(India) The officer in charge of a taluk.


dabba

From Hindi डब्बा (ḍabbā, “box, container”).

(India) A kind of lunchbox or food container.


bundar

Borrowed from Hindi बंदर (bandar), from Classical Persian بندر (bandar).


uncleji

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


auntyji

(India) aunt or older woman (as a respectful term of address)


papaji

(India) papa, father (as a respectful term of address)


mummyji

(India) mummy, mother (as a respectful term of address)


-ji

From a suffix found in various languages of the Indian subcontinent, e.g. Hindi -जी (-jī).


madamji

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


supari

(India) A contract killing; a hit taken out on somebody.


godman

(India, colloquial) A charismatic male guru.


enfaced paper

(India, historical) Indian government securities whose principal and interest are enfaced as payable in silver rupees.


kutniti

(India) diplomacy: the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of states.


kutcha house

The possession of a town house, or rented house, whether it is a pucca house, semi-pucca or kutcha houses by the beneficiaries, also have an impact on the programme.

2003, M. Lakshmi Narasaiah, Approaches to Rural Development, page 80:

(India) A house built with naturally occurring materials.


gingelly

en-noun

gingelly (countable and uncountable, plural gingellies)

From Hindi [Term?] or Marathi [Term?], ultimately from Arabic جِلْجِلَان (jiljilān).

An experiment was carried out to study the effect of paper mill effluent on germination and growth behaviour of crops like maize, groundnut, sunflower, soyabean, black gram, green gram, gingelly [sesame] and castor beans in Tamil Nadu, India [date not given].

2000, P Dhevagi, G Oblisami, “Effect of paper mill effluent on germination of agricultural crops.”, in Journal of Ecobiology, volume 12, number 4:

The surfactant showed comparatively high emulsification index over Gingelly oil at the rate of 71%.

2012, CR Suresh Chander, T Lohitnathm DJ Mukesh Kumar, PT Kalaichelvan, “Production and characterization of biosurfactant from Bacillus subtilis MTCC441 and its evaluation to use as bioemulsifier for food bio-preservative”, in Advances in Applied Science Research, volume 3, number 3:

Cultural conditions for the production of lipase by Aspergillus niger strain MTCC 2594 by solid-state fermentation using gingelly oil cake were standardized.

1998 June, NR Kamini, JGS Mala, R Puvanakrishnan, “Lipase production from Aspergillus niger by solid-state fermentation using gingelly oil cake”, in Process Biochemistry, volume 33, number 5:


Indish

(India, colloquial) Any of various varieties of English spoken in India.


officegoer

She elaborates: “We did it primarily to cater to the officegoer who could not reach us in the usual 10-4 banking hours.

2008 July 30, Abhijit Mitra, “Banking goes low-brow”, in Outlook Money, volume 7, number 15:

(chiefly India) One who works in an office, an officer.


masterji

(India) male teacher (as a respectful term of address)


naib

From Urdu نائب (nāib) / Hindi नाइब (nāib), नायब (nāyab), from Arabic نَائِب (nāʔib).


bheestie

From Hindustani भिश्ती (bhiśtī) / بہشتی (bhiśtī, “heavenly”), from Persian بهشت (behešt, “heaven”).

(historical, India, Nepal, Pakistan) A water carrier, as to a household or a regiment.


gulti

(India, offensive, ethnic slur) a Telugu


NCC

National Cadet Corps
w:National Cadet Corps

(Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Maldives, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka) Initialism of National Cadet Corps.


joint family

Earlier when joint family was the norm, children used to find time to look after their parents.

2010 October 3, “Breakdown of joint family taking toll on elders”, in New Indian Express, retrieved 2015-05-17:

But since we live in a joint family with my in-laws in the adjacent bedrooms, we usually keep the volume of television a little high to restrict the sounds.

2011 November 5, “Most annoying bedroom habits”, in India Times, retrieved 2015-05-17:

Growing up in a household of 10-11 people – parents, aunts, uncles all under the same roof – I loved the concept of a joint family.

2015 April 15, Payal Dighe Karkhanis, “Living in a joint family makes one rethink the idea of choice and responsibility”, in Hindustan Times, retrieved 2015-05-17:

(India) A household consisting of two or more closely-related nuclear families, such as two or more brothers along with their wives and children, or multiple generations along with spouses.


jaun

Who did not know that office Jaun of pale Pomona green,
 With its drab and yellow lining, and picked out black between,
 Which down the Esplanade did go at the ninth hour of the day […]

1851, Henry Meredith Parker, Bole Ponjis:

A large number of accidents are also caused by office jauns which as a class are driven too fast and by inexperienced men. It has been suggested that these jauns should be registered and numbered and their drivers licensed.

1917, Reginald Clarke, Annual Report on the Police Administration of the Town of Calcutta and Its Suburbs, page 142:

(India, historical) Synonym of litter, particularly those of the upper middle class in 18th-, 19th-, and early 20th-century Kolkata.


gup-shup

gup-shup (usually uncountable, plural gup-shups)

It's not like the old days when Bharat and Sanjay and Madhu and Ding-Dong Surdi and Honky Shah would come every morning and we would all go through the day's gup shup.

1997, Ardashir Vakil, Beach Boy, Penguin Books India, →ISBN, page 170:

It takes an afternoon or two for the locals to know you are back so that they can drop in for some gup-shup.

2009, Khushwant Singh, Why I Supported the Emergency: Essays and Profiles, Penguin Books India, →ISBN, page 147:

When not in classes the Bookers Park was my den. As the name, it was a park within the campus for those who preferred to read peacefully without being monitored as in the library. Note sharing, discussions and even occasional gup-shups took place here.

2014, Lakshmi C Radhakrishnan, Does Love Really Bite???, Partridge India (hardcover) (softcover), chapter 1, 4–5

(India, colloquial) Gossip or rumor; idle talk.


gup

gup (countable and uncountable, plural gups)

From Hindi गप (gap, “gossip; idle talk”).

Should this lull continue much longer, the consequence will be, that the security of some mercantile houses, for some time on the wave, will fail; and, if we credit the gups in the bazar, the crisis is rapidly approaching.

1842 January, “Asiatic Intelligence – Bombay: State of Trade and Credit”, in The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China and Australasia, volume 37, number 145, London: Wm. H. Allen and Co., page 42:

Bazaar “gup,” too, speaking with the tongue of a lying jade on the eve of the expedition, had so added to the deadliness of the Abor reputation that one party of able-bodied men became panic-stricken when they realised the nature of the work before them, and disappeared in a night!

1912, Angus Hamilton, chapter 7, in In Abor Jungles: Being an Account of the Abor Expedition, the Mishmi Mission and the Miri Mission, London: Eveleigh Nash, page 138:

The young man faithfully delivered what Jinnah called “the gup”—the day's gossip — and tried vainly to extract a newsworthy quote from the League leader.

2015, Nisid Hajari, chapter 8, in Midnight's Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India's Partition, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, →ISBN, pages 178–179:

(India, colloquial) Gossip or rumor; nonsensical or silly talk; blather.


desai

(India, historical) In west and south India, a native official in charge of a district, often held by heredity; a petty chief.


dhania

All can find a stall selling something familiar – and maybe something new to try, whether it’s yams or plantain, dhania or jellied eels.

2015 July 10, “Saving our city centres, one local market at a time”, in The Guardian:


QAI

organic certification
organic certification#English

(India, space science) Initialism of Quality Assurance International. (U.S.-based international organic certification company)


IIST

(India, space science) Initialism of Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology.


swaraj

Are the brown Indians to share equally in the ruling of the British Empire or are they an inferior race? And curiously enough, the battle on this point is impending not simply in the unchecked movement toward "swaraj" in India but in Africa—in the Union of South Africa and in Kenya.

1925, W. E. B. Du Bois, “The Negro Mind Reaches Out”, in Alain LeRoy Locke, editor, The New Negro: An Interpretation, page 404:

This includes buen vivir (or sumak kawsay or suma qamaña), a culture of life with different names and varieties emerging from indigenous peoples in various regions of South America; ubuntu, with its emphasis on human mutuality (“I am because we are”) in South Africa; radical ecological democracy or ecological swaraj, with a focus on self-reliance and self-governance, in India; and degrowth, the hypothesis that we can live better with less and in common, in western countries.

2015 July 21, “Sustainable development is failing but there are alternatives to capitalism”, in The Guardian:


black caraway

black caraway (usually uncountable, plural black caraways)

Bunium bulbocastanum
Bunium bulbocastanum#Translingual

(India) A spice plant related to caraway and cumin, with dark seeds and an edible root, Bunium bulbocastanum


sisterji

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


velfie

There are duckface selfies, velfies, melfies, and what have you.

March 2015, Digit, Siddharth Parwatay, "From Selfies to Selflessness", p. 3

Move over selfie, India is embracing the "velfie" with Bollywood stars, sporting heroes, and even politicians taking and posting videos of themselves online using a range of new mobile apps.

7/10/2015, Voice of Asia, Peter Hutchison, "When a selfie is not enough: India abuzz over 'velfie' craze", p. 14

In the winter of 2014 the writer and ad filmmaker had spun off the first Indian velfie (video selfies) movement with a three-minute film titled Pause that compared the Indo-Pak boundaries to walls between homes and led to a movement called Dear Neighbour that is currently on the trending charts with a spate of #ProfileForPeace messages on its wall.

10/26/2015, Pakistan Today, "Peace call goes viral", p. 2

(neologism, chiefly India) A video selfie.


singhara

From Hindi सिंघाड़ा (siṅghāṛā), from Sanskrit शृङ्गाट (śṛṅgāṭa, “water caltrop”), from शृङ्ग (śṛṅga, “horn”).

bor

Hindi सिंघाड़ा (siṅghāṛā)


jarul

(India) Lagerstroemia speciosa, a flowering plant native to tropical southern Asia.


toposheet

(India) A kind of map that shows the topographic features of an area.


Dravidianist

(India) One who studies Dravidian languages.


cauzee

From Hindi क़ाज़ी (qāzī), ultimately from Arabic قَاضٍ (qāḍin, “judge”).


qui-hi

Borrowed from Hindi कोई है (koī hai, “is anyone there?”).

bor

That he had seen service in India was, indeed, probable by his referring to lunch as tiffin, and calling to his parlourmaid with the ejaculation of “Qui-hi.”

1922, Edward Frederic Benson, Miss Mapp, Chapter 1:

(India, historical) An Anglo-Indian call for a servant.


qui-hi

[…] would find themselves at Galle regarded as interlopers by the Bengal "qui-his," as they are called, or high and mighty Anglo-Indians.

1879, Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York, page 107:

The slang distinctive name for gentlemen belonging to the Bombay service; the correlative of the Mulls of Madras and the Qui-His of Bengal.

1968, Demetrius Charles de Kavanagh Boulger, Asian Review, page 134:

(India, historical, colloquial) An Anglo-Indian in Bengal.


sewali

His attention was drawn by the sewali flowers blooming with small, soft, white petals, fluttering in the mild air.

2000, Kamaleswar Sarma, Raghunath Choudhury, page 5:

Near the goxai ghar there was a sewali in full bloom. A few flowers fell from the tree.

2002, Snigdhamalati Neog, transl., A handful of sand, page 108:

The fragrance of the white carpet of flowers under the flowering sewali shrub spoke of its origin and reminded her of the old woman Kali.

2011, Arupa Patangia Kalita, translated by Deepika Phukan, The Story of Felanee:

(India) Night jasmine (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis).


moori

Women had entered the rice and moori (puffed rice) business and set up shops for the first time, enabled by loans from the SHGs.

2005, Neera Burra, Joy Deshmukh-Ranadive, Ranjani K Murthy, editors, Micro-Credit, Poverty and Empowerment: Linking the Triad, page 258:

Then, she filled a smaller tin with the fresh moori and gave it to Felänee, saying, “Give this to your little fellow.”

Soon he gave up coolieing and started selling moori, carrying a large sack of puffed rice through the streets of Calcutta, shouting ‘moori…moori’ and watching for windows to open and housewives to beckon him up musty building stairs […]


kadam

Cf. Bengali কদম (kodom), corruption of Sanskrit कदम्ब (kadamba).

Kinaram made the elephant sit under a large kadam tree.

2011, Arupa Patangia Kalita, translated by Deepika Phukan, The Story of Felanee, translation of original in Assamese:

Neolamarckia cadamba
Neolamarckia cadamba#Translingual

(India) A tropical evergreen tree, Neolamarckia cadamba (syn. Anthocephalus indicus, Nauclea cadamba), native to South and Southeast Asia.


chabutra

Ask for the mansion of Burnham-sahib: in the garden there's a chabutra with a green roof.

2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin, published 2015, page 64:

(India) A paved terrace attached to a house or garden.


MPB

Madhav Prasad Birla Group
w:Madhav Prasad Birla Group

(India) Initialism of Madhav Prasad Birla Group.


burkundaz

From Hindi बरक़ंदाज़ (barqandāz), from Persian برق انداز (barq-andâz, literally “lightning-thrower”).

der

But unlike such forts as Chunar and Buxar […], the Carcanna was anything but a picturesque ruin: its turrets housed squads of sentries, and its parapets were manned by a great number of peons and burkundazes.

2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin, published 2015, page 90:

(India, now historical) An armed guard or watchman.


gomashta

From Hindi [Term?], Urdu [Term?], from Persian گماشته (“appointed, delegated”).

In Bengal, and particularly among the English, the word gomastah is confined, in a partial sense, to those Hindoos who are sent by the Company's servants into the inland-country, furnished with dustucks, to buy or sell goods, on stipulated monthly wages; without drawing commission, or having the liberty to trade on their own account. But among the natives of Hindostan, in the more general acceptation, the word gomastah is indiscriminately used for every sort of representative, or agent; from the ambassador down to the merchant's clerk, or even the foreman of a manufactory.

1775, William Bolts, Considerations on India Affairs, Part II, London, page 152:

But the gomashta now realized that there were other ways of obtaining reparation - and also making money for himself.

2005, Mike Dash, Thug, Granta, published 2006, page 142:

This met with no response and nor did the gomusta require any.

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

(India, now historical) A native Indian clerk or steward.