"memsahib" meaning in All languages combined

See memsahib on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Forms: memsahibs [plural]
Etymology: From ma'am + sahib. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|ma'am|sahib}} ma'am + sahib Head templates: {{en-noun}} memsahib (plural memsahibs)
  1. (India, historical, as a respectful term of address) A white European woman in colonial India. Tags: India, historical
    Sense id: en-memsahib-en-noun-TyGZWE91 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Indian English, Pages with 1 entry

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ma'am",
        "3": "sahib"
      },
      "expansion": "ma'am + sahib",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From ma'am + sahib.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "memsahibs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "memsahib (plural memsahibs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Indian English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Coordinate term: sahib"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1911, Frances Hodgson Burnett, chapter 1, in The Secret Garden",
          "text": "She had not wanted a little girl at all, and when Mary was born she handed her over to the care of an Ayah, who was made to understand that if she wished to please the Mem Sahib she must keep the child out of sight as much as possible",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, Richard Dyer, White, page 184",
          "text": "This might be accomplished literally through missionary work (Plate 5.1), but that tended to be unattractively pro-active and spinsterish, and it was rather the memsahibs, the mothers, wives and daughters of the white officers and administrators, who were to instil civilisation, through the example of their own moral refinement.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A white European woman in colonial India."
      ],
      "id": "en-memsahib-en-noun-TyGZWE91",
      "links": [
        [
          "white",
          "white"
        ],
        [
          "European",
          "European"
        ],
        [
          "woman",
          "woman"
        ],
        [
          "colonial",
          "colonial"
        ],
        [
          "India",
          "India"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(India, historical, as a respectful term of address) A white European woman in colonial India."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "as a respectful term of address"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "India",
        "historical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "memsahib"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ma'am",
        "3": "sahib"
      },
      "expansion": "ma'am + sahib",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From ma'am + sahib.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "memsahibs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "memsahib (plural memsahibs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English compound terms",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with historical senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Indian English",
        "Pages with 1 entry"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Coordinate term: sahib"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1911, Frances Hodgson Burnett, chapter 1, in The Secret Garden",
          "text": "She had not wanted a little girl at all, and when Mary was born she handed her over to the care of an Ayah, who was made to understand that if she wished to please the Mem Sahib she must keep the child out of sight as much as possible",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, Richard Dyer, White, page 184",
          "text": "This might be accomplished literally through missionary work (Plate 5.1), but that tended to be unattractively pro-active and spinsterish, and it was rather the memsahibs, the mothers, wives and daughters of the white officers and administrators, who were to instil civilisation, through the example of their own moral refinement.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A white European woman in colonial India."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "white",
          "white"
        ],
        [
          "European",
          "European"
        ],
        [
          "woman",
          "woman"
        ],
        [
          "colonial",
          "colonial"
        ],
        [
          "India",
          "India"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(India, historical, as a respectful term of address) A white European woman in colonial India."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "as a respectful term of address"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "India",
        "historical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "memsahib"
}

Download raw JSONL data for memsahib meaning in All languages combined (1.8kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-09-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-08-20 using wiktextract (8e41825 and f99c758). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.