English words of Sanskrit origin

Sanskrit is scientific and systematic language and it is member of Indo-European language family. Hindi,  which is official language of India is also descended from it. There are innumerable words in English which are borrowed from this ancient language. Some of the very common Sanskrit originated words are listed below. these words are so nicely intermingled with English words that we hardly notice there Sanskrit origin.

AaryaPeople from central asia, noble, royal,  master” (aryan)
AfghanistanFrom the sanskrit tribal nameasvaka meaning “horseman”, as the country was noted for its fine breed of horses
AhimsaFrom sanskrit ahimsa, which means “not-harmful< /p>
AmbarellaFrom sanskrit:  a kind of tree
AnilineFrom sanskrit  nili.
AtollFrom sanskrit  antala
AvatarFrom sanskrit  avataara, which means “descent”,
BuddhaFrom sanskrit  buddha, which means “awakened, enligtened”
cashFrom sanskrit karsha , a weight of gold or silver.
CandyFrom sanskrit  khanda “piece of sugar”
CashmereFrom kashmir, the himalayan region where this wool is from. the name kashmere is derived from ka (“water”) and shimir (“to desiccate”).
CheetahFrom sanskrit chitraka, which means “speckled”
ChinaFrom sanskrit chinas
ChitFrom sanskrit  chitra-s “uniquely marked”.
CrimsonFrom sanskrit  krmi-ja literally: “red dye produced by a worm.”
DeodarFrom sanskrit  devadaru, a kind of tree
diva from sanskrit deva which means “a god”
gingerFrom sanskrit srngaveram , which means “body of a horn”
gurkhaFrom sanskrit goraksah , “a cowherd”.
JackalFrom sanskrit  srgalah “the howler”.
jaggeryFrom sanskrit sarkaran
JungleFrom sanskrit  jangala-s, which means “arid
LacFrom sanskrit laksha
LilacFrom sanskrit nila, which means “dark blue”.
LootFrom sanskrit  lota-m or  luhati meaning “he steals”
MahoutFrom sanskrit mahamatrah
MeerkatFrom sanskrit  markata meaning “an ape
OrangeFrom sanskrit naranga-s meaning “an orange tree”.
opalFrom sanskrit upalah
pukkaFrom sanskrit pakva
punch from sanskrit panchan-s . A mixed drink.
riceFrom sanskrit vrihi-s  “rice”
rupeeFrom sanskrit rupyakam , an indian silver coin
SaccharoFrom sanskrit sarkara
sandalFrom sanskrit candanam
ShampooFrom sanskrit capayati, which means “kneads”
sikhThrough hindi sikh  “a disciple”, ultimately from sanskrit siksati  which means “studies”
SingaporeFrom sanskrit simhapuram, literally “the lion city”.
Sri lankaFrom sanskrit: which means “venerable island.”
sugar

 

From sanskrit sharkara which means “ground or candied sugar” (originally “grit” or “gravel”.
sulfurFrom sanskrit sulvari
thugFrom sanskrit sthaga, which means “a scoundrel”
yetiyathih, which means “great sage, holyman” (this might have come to use as one might have mistaken a sage for the real yeti)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.