Hindu
/ˈhɪnduː/ adjective, noun
Forms Hindus Hindoo
- adjective Of, or relating to Hinduism, or to Hindus and their culture.
- noun A person adhering to the Hindu religion (Hinduism).
- noun (dated) Any native inhabitant of Hindustan.
- noun (North-West Frontier Province of British India, military, obsolete) A bunnia (merchant or trader) with a company of soldiers.
- noun (dated) A person of Indian religion and race.
Synonyms
Etymology
Derived from Classical Persian هِنْدُو (hindū, “Indian, Hindu”), from Middle Persian hndwk' (Hindūg, “Indian”), from hnd (Hind, “India”), from Old Persian 𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢 (hiⁿdu-, “India”), from Sanskrit सिन्धु (síndhu, “river, stream; Indus”), from Proto-Indo-Aryan *síndʰuṣ, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *síndʰuš (“river”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A native inhabitant of Hindostan. As an ethnical term it is confined to the Dravidian and Aryan races; as a religious name it is restricted to followers of the Veda.
- noun Same as Hindoo.
Etymology [Per. Hindu, fr. Hind, Hindustan, India. Cf. Indian.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “Hindu”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details