Coolie in Hindi
Meaning, Devanagari spelling and pronunciation
The meaning of “coolie” in Hindi is कुली मज़दूर, pronounced Quli — it is a noun. Copy the Devanagari word above, hear how it is pronounced, and use it anywhere. To type words like this yourself, try our Hindi typing tool, or explore more words in the vocabulary sets.
(ethnic slur) an offensive name for an unskilled Asian laborer
Borrowed from Hindustani (Hindi क़ुली (qulī) / Urdu قلی (qulī, “hired laborer”)), possibly from Ottoman Turkish قول (kul, “servant”). Another theory says that it is named after Gujarati કોળી (koḷī), a Gujarati tribe or caste. Other forms occur in Bengali কুলি (kuli) and Tamil கூலி (kūli, “daily hire”). Possibly also influenced by Hindustani (कोली (kolī) / کولی (kolī, “weaver; low-class”)). In Kurdish Koile (کۆیلە) and Quli (قولى): Slave, Servant. Kawli (Keweli): Low-Class, Gypsy.
Mandarin 苦力 (kǔlì, “hard labor”) may also have been influenced by cognates of the above Hindi word in other languages and may have further influenced English.
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Mandarin 苦力 (kǔlì, “hard labor”) may also have been influenced by cognates of the above Hindi word in other languages and may have further influenced English.
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