khitmatgar
English
editAlternative forms
edit- khedmutgar, khedmatgar, khidmatgar, khidmutgar, khitmutgar, kitmagar, khitmagar, kismutgar, kistmutgar, kitmuddar, kitmutgar, kitmutgaur
Etymology
editBorrowed from Hindustani خدمتگار (xidmatgār) / ख़िदमतगार, from Classical Persian خدمتگار (xidmatgār).
Pronunciation
editNoun
editkhitmatgar (plural khitmatgars)
- (British India, South Asia) A male servant, with responsibility for waiting at table.
- Synonym: khit
- 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 384:
- I found her closely locked in the arms of a handsome lad, one of my kitmuddars, with the infant by her side, all three being in a deep sleep, from which I awakened the two elders.
- 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Arrest of Lieutenant Golightly”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio, published 2005, page 94:
- He did not know then that his khitmatgar had stopped by the roadside to get drunk, and would come on the next day saying that he had sprained his ankle.
- 1983, Lawrence Durrell, Sebastian (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 1108:
- ‘The Ambassador to Bangalore appeared before me dressed in the robes of a khitmagar or majordomo.’
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- English terms borrowed from Hindustani languages
- English terms derived from Hindustani languages
- English terms derived from Classical Persian
- English 3-syllable words
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- English countable nouns
- British India English
- South Asian English
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