سپاہی
See also: سپاهی
Baluchi
Noun
سپاہی • (sapáhí, sipáhí)
See also
- سپائی (sapáí, sipáí)
Urdu
Etymology
Borrowed from Classical Persian سِپَاهِی (sipāhī). First attested in c. 1635 Middle Hindi سپاہی (sipāhī). By surface analysis, سِپاہ (sipāh, “army”) + ی (ī).
Pronunciation
- (Standard Urdu) IPA(key): /sɪ.pɑː.ɦiː/
- Rhymes: -iː
- Hyphenation: سِ‧پَا‧ہِی
Noun
سِپَاہِی • (sipāhī) m (Hindi spelling सिपाही)
- soldier, fighter
- Synonyms: عَسْکَری ('askarī), فَوجی (faujī)
- (historical) sepoy; a Hindustani soldier (ie. a native soldier as opposed to an English soldier)
- policeman; constable
- (obsolete) a beadle, pawn (of the government)
- (figuratively) a brave person
Declension
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| direct | سپاہی (sipāhī) | سپاہی (sipāhī) |
| oblique | سپاہی (sipāhī) | سپاہِیوں (sipāhiyõ) |
| vocative | سپاہی (sipāhī) | سپاہِیو (sipāhiyo) |
Related terms
Descendants
- → Tamil: சிப்பாய் (cippāy)
- → Telugu: సిపాయి (sipāyi)
- → Kannada: ಸಿಪಾಯಿ (sipāyi)
- → Malayalam: ശിപായി (śipāyi)
- → Portuguese: sipaio (see there for further descendants)
Further reading
- “سپاہی”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
- “سپاہی”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
- Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “سپاہی”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
- Platts, John T. (1884) “سپاهي”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co., page 634
- S. W. Fallon (1879) “سپاﮩـي”, in A New Hindustani-English Dictionary, Banaras, London: Trubner and Co., page 746
- John Shakespear (1834) “سپاهي”, in A dictionary, Hindustani and English: with a copious index, fitting the work to serve, also, as a dictionary of English and Hindustani, 3rd edition, London: J.L. Cox and Son, →OCLC