Glossary of Indian and Anglo-Indian Words plus Some English Words Used in an Indian Context

ayah – an Indian nanny or nursemaid

baba, baba log – child, child folk

babu – usually employed as a pejorative term for a semi-anglicized Hindu clerk

batta – an allowance for military officers on campaign

bearer – a valet, senior male servant

begum – a Muslim princess, a female ruler of an Indian state

boxwallah – a pedlar in Hindustani, later used to describe a British merchant or businessman

burra memsahib – the wife of a senior officer or official

burra peg – a large measure of alcohol, usually brandy or whisky

cantonment – a military station

chaprasi – a messenger or errand boy

charpoy – a string bed

chee-chee (or chi-chi) – disparaging term for the way Eurasians (later called Anglo-Indians) spoke English

chota hazri – a light and very early breakfast

chota peg – a single measure of alcohol, usually brandy or whisky

chowkidar – a night watchman or village policeman

chummery – a house shared by bachelors

Civilian – a member of the Indian Civil Service (ICS)

collector – a revenue officer, chief civil servant in a district

cutchery – a court house, sometimes a magistrate’s office

dais – an hereditary midwife in rural India (now known as ‘traditional birth attendant’)

dak bungalow – a rest-house for officers and other travellers maintained by the Indian government

dandy – a sort of hammock on a pole carried by dandy wallahs

darzi – a tailor

Factor – a fairly junior civil servant in the East India Company

fakir – usually used to describe an ascetic, semi-naked Hindu devotee

furlough – (from the Dutch verlof) long leave, usually first taken after eight years’ service in India

ghazi – a Muslim warrior or ‘fanatic’

griffin – a newcomer in his first year in India

Hills (the) – generic British name for the Indian uplands

hookah-burdar – a servant in charge of his master’s pipe, or hookah

jampan – a sort of sedan chair carried by two pairs of porters, or jampannies

jezail – long-barrelled Afghan musket

jheel – a swamp

jirga – a council of tribal elders in north-western India

khansama – a butler, steward, sometimes cook

khitmutgar – a senior servant who waits at table

maharani – the wife of a maharaja

maidan – an open space in the centre of a town

mali – a gardener

mofussil – rural areas, ‘up country’

munshi – a teacher or secretary

nabob – term for an eighteenth-century Briton who had made a fortune in India

nawab – a Muslim nobleman or ruler

palanquin – a covered litter, carried by porters, often used for long journeys

patel – a village headman

patwari – a village accountant and registrar

Plains (the) – generic British name for lowland India

Political – a member of the Indian Political Service (IPS)

punkah – a large cloth fan attached to the ceiling

punkah wallah – the Indian who pulls the rope of the punkah

purdah – the curtain screening women from the sight of male strangers

purdah nashin – a woman who is secluded ‘behind the curtain’

raga – the melodic base of Indian classical music

rani – the wife of a raja

Resident – a senior member of the Indian Political Service stationed in a princely state

ryot – a peasant cultivator

sepoy – an Indian soldier in the ranks of the East India Company and later of the Indian Army

shikar – the pursuit of ‘game’ (e.g. hunting, shooting and fishing)

shikari – a hunter or a hunting guide

sola topi – a lightweight pith hat or sun helmet

sowar – trooper in the Indian Army cavalry

sweeper – the most menial of servants, a cleaner of lavatories

syce – a groom

tahsildar – a revenue officer in charge of a tahsil

tiffin – a midday snack or light early lunch

tonga – a light two-wheeled carriage, usually drawn by ponies

Vedas – the ancient, sacred Hindu books

Writer – a junior civil servant of the East India Company

zemindar – a large landowner and rent collector in Bengal

zenana – the area in a household where women were kept secluded