india
UK /ˈɪndiːə/ · US /ˈɪndi.ə/ proper noun
Forms Indias
- proper noun A country in South Asia. Official name: Republic of India. Capital: New Delhi.
- proper noun (chiefly historical, proscribed in modern use) A region of South Asia, traditionally delimited by the Himalayas and the Indus river; the Indian subcontinent.
- proper noun (historical, often "British India") A territory of the British Empire, chiefly comprising the modern day countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Burma.
- proper noun A female given name.
Synonyms
Hindustan Bharat Hinduland Indian subcontinent South Asia the subcontinent Republic of India
Etymology
Inherited from Old English India, Indea, from Latin India, from Ancient Greek Ἰνδία (Indía), from Ancient Greek Ἰνδός (Indós, “Indus river”), from Old Persian 𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁 (hiⁿdūš), from Sanskrit सिन्धु (sindhu), ultimately from Proto-Indo-Iranian *síndʰuš (“river”).
Compare Middle English Inde and Ynde from Old French Ynde (original form started to prevail in the 16th century), Classical Persian هند (hind, “India”), Sanskrit सिन्धु (síndhu, “a river, stream”). Doublet of Indus, Sindhu, Hindu, and Sindh.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A country in Southern Asia; the two peninsulas of Hither and Farther India; in a restricted sense, Hither India, or Hindostan.
Etymology [See Indian.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “india”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details