Words from Indian languages borrowed in ENGLISH| Make Your Vocabulary Advanced with Prof. Sumita Roy

Indexado: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]Many Indian words are borrowed by English and you find new additions to the English dictionary regularly.

[00:00:18]These Indian words when they are used in English might have a slightly different pronunciation from the original which is from any of the languages of India. It need not be restricted to one language.

[00:00:34]India has so many languages and it is borrowed from any of these languages and when it is used also the meaning might change slightly and it might acquire a meaning which is in which the English language uses it. When you list take a list of these words and you practice them, you will find that the they fit into the English language well and you can use them wherever you feel the context requires this. Let us see these examples.

[00:01:19]The first word which we have here is mantra.

[00:01:24]Mantra usually has a spiritual connotation something which we repeat regularly in our meditation etc. But when it is borrowed in English, mantra has a very secular meaning also.

[00:01:42]That is where we will see it. A guiding principle or belief. That is the meaning here. The meaning you can see is different. It doesn't say anything about spirituality. The guiding principle or belief. Here are two examples of this.

[00:02:04]Stay positive is his personal mantra in difficult times.

[00:02:11]So stay positive, you know, is the word which you're using the principle. Then she repeats a calming mantra every morning before work. Now before work you might get stressed out. So she says that you know I should be calm. I should do my work with full concentration like that she speaks to herself.

[00:02:38]The next word pronounced as jaggeraut is derived from the puri jaganathat temple.

[00:02:50]In the jaganath temple we have the chariot festival which is called ratiatra.

[00:02:57]So that you know it's a huge chariot which you cannot stop it just goes and goes ahead that is jaganat ratiatra from that the word juggernaut is derived we have massive unstoppable force and the examples are two in number the company has become a juggernaut in the tech industry. That means it's become very huge and nobody can stop its progress.

[00:03:38]The team turned into a juggernaut after winning several games in a row. So they were unstoppable. Now they thought they would meet win every game. That is where juggernaut is used.

[00:03:54]The next word is jungle. Jungle is very commonly used today. We have the famous jungle book which was written in India and that is where the term became very popular.

[00:04:12]The word jungle means forest. The English word original English word is forest. But today jungle is very commonly used. We went on a trip through the jungle.

[00:04:25]The jungle is full of wild animals.

[00:04:29]These two are simple examples. The story which I told you about the jungle book. It's a very interesting children's story.

[00:04:41]The next word bandast is actually bandobust. That is the word which is pronounced slightly differently in English but it means proper arrangement, organization or security measures. All these are included in bandast.

[00:05:09]The police made strong band for the festival.

[00:05:16]That is the police arranged for security measures. They made proper arrangements for people to enjoy themselves without any conflict. So there good bandust ensured the event ran smoothly without any issues. Here is the second sentence which again talks about the organization and the proper arrangement.

[00:05:46]The word shampoo also is derived from the Indian word. The Indian word is slightly different. I'm sure all of you know it. The meaning is a preparation to clean and condition hair. We use it every day. We say shampoo. But we might not know that it's Indian in original.

[00:06:10]The sentences are here. Two of them. I need to buy a new shampoo.

[00:06:18]And then she washes her hair with herbal shampoo. These are simple sentences. You can make many more sentences using all these words which are of Indian origin.

[00:06:33]Bangalore is again derived from an Indian word and it means a small house in Bengal style usually a thatched house a house which is not built of concrete and straight in shape like we have in cities today. So that is bungalow you know independent small house. They live in a small bungalow near the beach.

[00:07:08]This is one sentence. The bungalow has a large garden. If you go to the tea estates and all you can see those beautiful bungalows of the colonial times even today.

[00:07:22]Yoga is a word which has become internationally famous today and we celebrate yoga day all over the world.

[00:07:31]The meaning of yoga is a condition or exercise which gives strength to the mind and body. The mind and body both are included here. She does yoga every morning. Yoga helps improve flexibility and calmness.

[00:07:58]Guru is a teacher.

[00:08:03]A teacher spiritual or you know secular who teaches you anything is a guru. And guru is a very commonly used word in English today. He is a business guru in his field.

[00:08:21]I consider her my coding guru. Coding is some program which you have and then you have a teacher for that you a person you look up to and that is the guru.

[00:08:37]Avatar is an incarnation but here it can also mean a model especially in AI terms you know you get different kinds of models different kinds of pictures that becomes I changed my avatar on social media that is where you are talking about the appearance the physical model his game avatar looks very powerful Both these are AI generated pictures. So there the word avatar is very commonly used. Although in the Indian sense avatar is an incarnation of God. That meaning is changed here.

[00:09:23]Pajamas also is derived from the Indian word which is a loose garment which you wear on your legs. It's not like trousers or it's not like uh leggings.

[00:09:39]It's different. It's a loose straight garment. I wore my pajamas all day on Sunday. It's an informal wear. It's a wear which we use for night dress. These pajamas are very comfortable. So these two sentences tell you how pajamas are used.

[00:10:03]Chutney is also commonly used today in English though it's an Indian derivative.

[00:10:12]A spicy condiment. That is what chutney means. She served mango chutney with the meal. We all love that. I love spicy chutney with snacks. Whatever you buy, if you even buy a samosa, you get some chutney. So chutney is very common in India and today used popularly in English.

[00:10:37]Khaki is a word which you see the color which you see in uniforms that is a dusty colored cloth. So that is khaki. Usually you have police uniform, you have service personnel uniform, security guards uniform. The color is khaki. He wore khaki pants to work. The soldiers were dressed in khaki uniforms.

[00:11:09]Loot is to steal or plunder. That is also commonly used in English. The pirates tried to loot the ship. Pirates are people who roam the seas. They go on ships and they attack other ships and capture them. They looted the store during the riot. The riot is where everybody is violent and they stole everything from the store. With that we come to the end of these words which I have listed which are borrowed from the Indian languages into English. Sometimes with a slight change of pronunciation or meaning etc. If you practice them your English becomes impressive.

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