क़ुली

Hindi

Etymology

From the possessed form of Old Anatolian Turkish قل (“slave”), ultimately from Proto-Turkic *kul;^[1] used in several names of the Qutb Shahi sultans.

Pronunciation

(Delhi) IPA^(key): /qʊ.liː/, /kʊ.liː/

Noun

क़ुली • (qulī) m (Urdu spelling قلی)

slave; servant
Synonyms: ग़ुलाम (ġulām), दास (dās)
porter
(historical) coolie; migrant labourer

Declension

Declension of *क़ुली* (masc ī-stem)
	singular	plural
direct	क़ुली qulī	क़ुली qulī
oblique	क़ुली qulī	क़ुलियों quliyõ
vocative	क़ुली qulī	क़ुलियो quliyo

Descendants

→ Burmese: ကူလီ (kuli)
→ Bengali: কুলি (kuli)
→? Chinese: 苦力 (kǔlì)
→ English: coolie, cooly
→ Malay: kuli
- Indonesian: kuli
→ Telugu: కూలీ (kūlī)
→ Thai: กุลี (gù-lii)

References

^ Starostin, Sergei, Dybo, Anna, Mudrak, Oleg (2003) “*Kul”, in Etymological dictionary of the Altaic languages (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8)‎^[1], Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill