
Words borrowed from Sanskrit
Swami Vivekananda
Photo: Thomas Harrison, 1893
SWAMI
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
noun:
1. A religious teacher, mystic, or yogi.
2. A learned man: pundit.
1. A religious teacher, mystic, or yogi.
2. A learned man: pundit.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Hindi swami (master), from Sanskrit swami (master, lord). Ultimately from the Indo-European root s(w)e- (third person reflexive pronoun), which also gave us self, sibling, suicide, secret, sober, sullen, idiot, and Irish Sinn Fein (literally, We Ourselves). Earliest documented use: 1773.
See usage examples of swami in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.
~~dru~~