Sep 9, 2024
By: Prerna Tyagi
Derived from Hindi chāmpo, originally meaning "head massage," the word shampoo first entered English in 1762 and has since become synonymous with hair washing.
This small, agile animal gets its name from the Marathi word mungus and Telugu mungisa, adapted into Portuguese mangusto before entering English.
The word candy traces back to the Sanskrit word khanda, meaning "pieces," through Persian qand, referring to crystallised sugar.
The word orange has roots in the Sanskrit word nāraṅga, which means "orange tree." The word travelled through Persian and Arabic before making its way into European languages, describing both the fruit and the colour.
The sturdy plant bamboo has its roots in the Kannada word bambu, foraying into the English language during the colonial era.
Tank was adopted by the British military as a codename for their first armoured vehicles in WWI to maintain secrecy, and the name stuck. Its origins trace back to the Gujarati "tānkũ" or Marathi "tānkẽ," meaning an underground cistern, and possibly the Sanskrit "tadaga," later adopted by Portuguese traders as "tanque" for water reservoirs.
Dacoit comes from the Hindi word ‘dak’, meaning ‘bandit.’ The word dacoit, which refers to organised robbers, gained prevalence during British rule in India.
The word juggernaut comes from the annual Rath Yatra festival in Odisha, where massive chariots are pulled through the streets for Lord Jagannath. Early European visitors described the carts as unstoppable forces, and the term evolved to mean a powerful, overwhelming force.
from Hindi and Urdu: An acknowledged leader in a field, from the Mughal rulers of India like Akbar and Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal.