English Explanatory Dictionary

mehtar

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A ruler in certain princely states of the Northwest Frontier region.
  2. A sweeper or scavenger of low caste.

Word forms

mehtar mehtars

Etymology

From Persian مهتر (“prince, chief, elder, great personage”). Regarding the sense of a scavenger, Yule & Burnell (see References) state that the term was "applied to the class in question in irony, or rather in consolation".

Derived words

mehtarship
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