babu

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A Hindu title of respect, equivalent to Mr., usually appended to the surname of a Hindu man.
  2. an archetypical Indian bureaucrat, perceived as being corrupt, lazy or arrogant.
  3. Originally, a Hindu gentleman employed to work as a clerk for the colonial administration; now, a clerk or low-ranking government official.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/ˈbɑːbuː/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-babu.wav

Word forms

babu babus baboo

Etymology

From Hindi बाबू (bābū).

Derived words

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.