jawan

jawan

English

WOTD – 12 October 2011

Etymology

Borrowed from Hindi जवान (javān), Urdu, from Persian جوان‎ (javân, “young, a youth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒəˈwɑːn/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

Noun

jawan (plural jawans)

1. (India) An infantryman; a soldier.
   • 1992, Satyindra Singh, Blueprint to Bluewater: The Indian Navy, 1951-65, page 402:

     In any event we soon had the Army jawan sent by the Major with us in the boat and headed for shore.

   • 1999, R. D. Pradhan, Debacle to Revival: Y.B. Chavan as Defence Minister, 1962-65, page 44:

     He obviously expected one of the senior army officials to walk over and talk to the jawan.

   • 2011, Deepika Phukan, The Story of Felanee, translation of original by Arupa Patangia Kalita:

     They could now see a whole lot of army jawans in gum boots looking for something in the mud.

Translations

infantryman, soldier

Dutch: infanterist (nl) m, infanteriste f, voetknecht (nl) m, voetman m, zandhaas (nl) m Finnish: sotapoika, sotilas (fi) German: Infanterist (de) m, Soldat (de) m Hindi: जवान (hi) m (javān) Marathi: जवान m (javān), सैनिक (mr) (sainik) Russian: солда́т (ru) m (soldát) Telugu: జవాను (te) (javānu)

Anagrams

• ajwan

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Yagara

Noun

jawan

1. fish

References

• State Library of Queensland, Indigenous Language Wordlists Brisbane Animal Words.