Wallah, a Hindi suffix meaning 'one in charge', is used in English to denote a person associated with a specific job or duty, often as part of a compound term.
Wallah is a Hindi suffix meaning 'one in charge', used in English to denote a person associated with a particular job or duty, often in combination with another word.
Word | wallah |
---|---|
Date | May 26, 2007 |
Type | noun |
Syllables | WAH-luh |
Etymology | "Wallah" comes from the Hindi suffix "-vālā," meaning "one in charge." Like its Hindi counterpart, "wallah" is commonly used in combination with other nouns. The first use of "wallah" appeared as "lootywallah" in a narrative penned by Officer Innes Munro describing his time deployed on the Coromandel Coast of India in the 1780s. "Looty," or "lootie," was a noun sometimes applied to a member of a band of marauders or robbers. In the narrative, Munro used the term to describe looting cavalrymen. In current writing, "wallah" is typically accompanied by words like "office" or "marketing." |
Examples | "Location, location and location. That's what it's all about, trumpet the real-estate wallahs." (Tony Baker, The Advertiser, August 3, 2005) |
Definition | : a person who is associated with a particular work or who performs a specific duty or service -- usually used in combination |
Tags: wordoftheday::noun
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