Punjabi

How to spell punjabi

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce punjabi

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does punjabi mean?

1. nounThe Indo-Aryan language of the Punjab region, or a person from the Punjab.
2. adjectiveRelating to the Punjab, its people, language, or culture.

Punjabi in a sentence

• noun

  The restaurant menu was printed in both English and punjabi.

• adjective

  The wedding featured traditional punjabi music and dancing.

• noun

  He learned to read punjabi at the temple as a child.

• adjective

  She cooked a rich punjabi curry for the family dinner.

Where does punjabi come from?

Language of origin: Other

This word comes from the name of the Punjab, the historic region now split between northern India and Pakistan. The place name itself is Persian in origin: panj means 'five' and ab means 'water' or 'river', so Punjab literally describes 'the land of five rivers', a reference to the five tributaries of the Indus that water the plain. The ending '-i' is a common Persian and Urdu suffix used to form adjectives and names of peoples or languages, much as it does in 'Iraqi' or 'Pakistani', so Punjabi simply means 'belonging to the Punjab'. English picked the term up during the period of British involvement in the Indian subcontinent in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, using it for the region's people, their language, and their culture. The same Persian panj for 'five' surfaces in other borrowed words, including 'punch' the drink, which was traditionally made from five ingredients, a handy hook for remembering the single 'n' near the start of Punjabi.

How the word is built

• Punjab (the five-rivers region)
• -i (adjectival/demonymic suffix meaning 'of, belonging to')