"sahib" meaning in English

See sahib in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: sahibs [plural], Sahib [alternative]
Etymology: From Hindustani صاحب / साहिब (sāhib, “lord”), from Classical Persian صاحب (sāhib), from Arabic صَاحِب (ṣāḥib, “companion”). Etymology templates: {{bor|en|inc-hnd}} Hindustani, {{der|en|fa-cls|صاحب|tr=sāhib}} Classical Persian صاحب (sāhib), {{der|en|ar|صَاحِب||companion}} Arabic صَاحِب (ṣāḥib, “companion”), {{root|en|ar|ص ح ب}} Head templates: {{en-noun}} sahib (plural sahibs)
  1. (historical) A term of respect for a white European or other man of rank in colonial India. Tags: historical Derived forms: memsahib, pukka sahib, sahibdom, sahibji Translations (a term of respect): সাহেব (śaheb) (Bengali), साहिब (sāhib) [masculine] (Hindi), साहेब (sāheb) [masculine] (Marathi), ਸਾਹਿਬ (sāheb, sāhab, sáb) [masculine] (Punjabi), صاحب (sāhib) [masculine] (Urdu)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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        {
          "word": "memsahib"
        },
        {
          "word": "pukka sahib"
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        {
          "word": "sahibdom"
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          "text": "One must never forget that one is a Sahib, and that some day, when examinations are passed, one will command natives.",
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          "ref": "1923, Rasool Galwan, Servant of Sahibs, Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons, page 25:",
          "text": "After, went to sahib and packed up sahib's things. We had four hire-ponies; three for loads, and one for sahib to ride. Sahib had a Chinese saddle, that he put on a high horse.",
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      "word": "memsahib"
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      "word": "pukka sahib"
    },
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      "word": "sahibdom"
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          "text": "After, went to sahib and packed up sahib's things. We had four hire-ponies; three for loads, and one for sahib to ride. Sahib had a Chinese saddle, that he put on a high horse.",
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A term of respect for a white European or other man of rank in colonial India."
      ],
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      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "bn",
      "lang": "Bengali",
      "roman": "śaheb",
      "sense": "a term of respect",
      "word": "সাহেব"
    },
    {
      "code": "hi",
      "lang": "Hindi",
      "roman": "sāhib",
      "sense": "a term of respect",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "साहिब"
    },
    {
      "code": "mr",
      "lang": "Marathi",
      "roman": "sāheb",
      "sense": "a term of respect",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "साहेब"
    },
    {
      "code": "pa",
      "lang": "Punjabi",
      "roman": "sāheb, sāhab, sáb",
      "sense": "a term of respect",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "ਸਾਹਿਬ"
    },
    {
      "code": "ur",
      "lang": "Urdu",
      "roman": "sāhib",
      "sense": "a term of respect",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "صاحب"
    }
  ],
  "word": "sahib"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-13 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-04-03 using wiktextract (aeaf2a1 and fb63907). 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.

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