Indian
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English
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman indien, Middle French indien, corresponding to Ind + -ian. Applied to inhabitants of the Americas due to an early misconception that the Americas were the eastern end of Asia / the Indies[1] (hence also the designation of Caribbean islands as the West Indies).
Pronunciation
- (India) IPA(key): /ˈɪɳ.ɖɪə̯n/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɪn.dɪ.ən/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɪn.di.ən/
Audio (General American): (file) - Rhymes: -ɪndiən
- Hyphenation: In‧di‧an
Adjective
Indian (comparative more Indian, superlative most Indian)
- Of or relating to India or its people; or (formerly) of the East Indies. [from 14th c.]
- Synonyms: East Indian, Indic, Hindian, Desi, Indish (archaic)
- (obsolete) Eastern; Oriental.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- The morrow next apprear'd with purple hayre / Yet dropping fresh out of the Indian fount, / And bringing light into the heavens fayre […] .
- Of or relating to the indigenous peoples of the Americas. [from 16th c.]
- 1879, Friedrich August Flückiger et al., Pharmacographia..., page 346:
- The hardships of bark-collecting in the primeval forests of South America are of the severest kind, and undergone only by the half-civilized Indians and people of mixed race, in the pay of speculators or companies located in the towns.
- Synonyms: Native American, Amerindian, First Nation
- (Canada, US, of foods) Made with Indian corn or maize. [from 17th c.]
- Indian bread
- Indian meal
- (chess) Designating any of various chess openings now characterised by black's attempt to control the board through knights and fianchettoed bishops rather than with a central pawn advance. [from 19th c.]
Derived terms
- American Indian
- Amerind (American Indian)
- Amerindian (American Indian)
- Asian Indian
- East Indian (“of, or related to, the people of the Indian subcontinent”)
- Hindian (Asian Indian)
- Indiana
- Indian almond
- Indian-American
- Indian apple
- Indian beet
- Indian bison
- Indian boys and girls
- Indian bullfrog
- Indian burn
- Indian carp
- Indian cobra
- Indian coral tree
- Indian corn
- Indian darter
- Indian elephant
- Indian fever
- Indian fig
- Indian file
- Indian fire
- Indian fox
- Indian ginger
- Indian giving
- Indian harp
- Indian hawthorn
- Indian hemp
- Indian hog deer
- Indian ink
- Indian lemonade
- Indian mahogany
- Indian mulberry
- Indian mustard
- Indian myna
- Indianness
- Indian Ocean
- Indian ox
- Indian paintbrush
- Indian pangolin
- Indian peacock
- Indian peafowl
- Indian pipe
- Indian plum
- Indian poker
- Indian potato
- Indian pudding
- Indian red
- Indian relish
- Indian rhinoceros
- Indian rhubarb
- Indian River
- Indian rugburn
- Indian Runner
- Indian sandalwood
- Indian sarsaparilla
- Indian sign
- Indian skimmer
- Indian spotted creeper
- Indian star tortoise
- Indian strawberry
- Indian style
- Indian summer
- Indian sunburn
- Indian swiftlet
- Indian thistle
- Indian tick typhus
- Indian warrior
- Indian wax scale
- Indian Wells
- Indian wheat
- Indian wolf
- Indian wrestling
- Indian yellow
- King's Indian Defence
- pan-Indian
- Queen's Indian Defence
- too many chiefs and not enough Indians
- West Indian (“of, or related to, the people of the Caribbean islands”)
Related terms
Translations
of or pertaining to India
|
Noun
Indian (plural Indians)
- A person from India. [from 13th c.]
- Synonyms: Asian Indian, East Indian, Hindian, Desi
- An American Indian, a member of one of the indigenous peoples of the Americas (generally excluding the Aleut, Inuit, Metis, or Yupik). [from 16th c.]
- Synonyms: Amerindian, Native American, Red Indian, First Nations person; see also Thesaurus:Native American
- 1820 July, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Traits of Indian Character”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC:
- We stigmatize the Indians, also, as cowardly and treacherous, because they use stratagem in warfare in preference to open force; but in this they are fully justified by their rude code of honor.
- 1951, Louis L'Amour, Rustlers of West Fork:
- With savage desperation the Indian lunged his horse straight at Hopalong and, knife in hand, leaped for him!
- (now rare, historical) An indigenous inhabitant of Australia, New Zealand or the Pacific islands. [from 18th c.]
- (uncountable) Indian cuisine; traditional Indian food.
- (UK, colloquial) A meal at (or taken away from) an Indian restaurant. [from 20th c.]
- We're going out tonight for an Indian.
- (UK, colloquial) An Indian restaurant.
- We're going down to the Indian for a curry—wanna join us?
- Short for Mardi Gras Indian.
Derived terms
Translations
a person from India
|
Proper noun
Indian
- (nonstandard) Any of the (unrelated) languages spoken by American Indians.
- (nonstandard, rare) Any language spoken by natives of India, especially Hindi.
- 1968, Anne Rider, A hilltop in hazard, page 51:
- [They said] 'Mutton can speak Indian', 'Mutton can see Kanchinjunga out of his bedroom window'[.]
References
- ^ “Indian”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
Interlingua
Pronunciation
Adjective
Indian
- Indian (of India)
- Native American; Indian
Categories:
- English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms suffixed with -ian
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɪndiən
- Rhymes:English/ɪndiən/3 syllables
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- Canadian English
- American English
- English terms with collocations
- en:Chess
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with rare senses
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- British English
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- en:Demonyms
- en:Maize (food)
- en:Nationalities
- en:Native Americans
- Interlingua terms with IPA pronunciation
- Interlingua lemmas
- Interlingua adjectives