pundit

English

WOTD – 15 November 2008

Alternative forms

pandit

Etymology

Borrowed from Hindi पण्डित (paṇḍit) / Urdu پنڈت‎ (panḍit), from Sanskrit पण्डित (paṇḍita, “scholar, learned man, teacher, philosopher”).

Pronunciation

(UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈpʌn.dɪt/
Audio (US) (file)
Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -ʌndɪt

Noun

pundit (plural pundits)

An expert in a particular field, especially as called upon to provide comment or opinion in the media; a commentator, a critic. [from 19th c.]
- 2006, The Observer, 4 Jun 2006:
  This week we introduce Jenny Walker, who will be The Observer's expert pundit for the duration of the World Cup.
A learned person in India; someone with knowledge of Sanskrit, philosophy, religion and law; a Hindu scholar. [from 17th c.]
- 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘On the City Wall’, In Black and White, Folio Society 2005, p. 430:
  Pundits in black gowns, with spectacles on their noses and undigested wisdom in their insides; bearded headmen of the wards; [...] all these people and more also you might find in the white room.
(historical) A native surveyor in British India, trained to carry out clandestine surveillance beyond British borders.
- 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society 2010, p. 295:
  At every hundredth pace the Pundit would automatically slip one bead. Each complete circuit of the rosary thus represented ten thousand paces.

Derived terms

pundithood
punditocracy
punditry
punditship

Translations

a self-professed expert

Arabic: خَبِير‎ m (ḵabīr)
Armenian: վերլուծաբան (hy) (verlucaban)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 權威人士／权威人士 (quánwēi rénshì)
Czech: odborník (cs) m, znalec (cs) m
Dutch: opinieleider, opiniemaker (nl) m, duider (nl) m
Finnish: asiantuntija (fi)
French: ^{(please verify)} pontificateur (fr) m
Galician: especialista (gl) m or f
German: Experte (de) m, Kommentator (de) m; (especially politics also) Meinungsführer m, Meinungsmacher m; (especially arts and media also) Kritiker (de) m
Hindi: पण्डित (hi) m (paṇḍit)
Hungarian: szakértő (hu), hozzáértő (hu), specialista (hu), kommentátor (hu), megmondóember, véleményvezér, véleményformáló (hu), hangadó (hu)
Italian: opinionista (it) m or f
Japanese: 博学者 (はくがくしゃ, hakugakusha)
Portuguese: autoridade (pt) f, especialista (pt) m or f
Russian: знато́к (ru) m (znatók), экспе́рт (ru) m (ekspért), специали́ст (ru) m (specialíst), учёный муж m (učónyj muž)
Serbo-Croatian: strȕčnjāk (sh) m
Spanish: comentarista experto m
Swedish: förståsigpåare (sv) c
Turkish: bilgin (tr), uzman (tr)

a Hindu scholar

Bengali: পণ্ডিত (pôṇḍit‌ô)
Bulgarian: брамин (bg) m (bramin)
Burmese: ပဏ္ဍိတ (my) (pandi.ta.)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 班智達／班智达 (bānzhìdá)
Finnish: pundiitti, pandiitti
French: pandit (fr) m, ^{(please verify)} pontife (fr) m
German: Pandit m
Gujarati: પંડિત m (paṇḍit)
Hindi: पण्डित (hi) m (paṇḍit), (abbreviation) प॰ (pa.)
Hungarian: pandit (hu), hindu tudós
Japanese: パンディット (panditto)
Kannada: ಪಂಡಿತ (kn) (paṇḍita)
Khmer: បណ្ឌិត (km) (bɑndɨt), អន្ទិត (ʼɑntɨt)
Lao: ບັນດິດ (ban dit), ປັນດິດ (pan dit)
Malayalam: പണ്ഡിതന് (paṇḍitanŭ)
Marathi: पंडित m (paṇḍit)
Mongolian: бандид (bandid)
Pali: paṇḍita m
Portuguese: pandita m, pandito m, pândita m
Russian: панди́т (ru) m (pandít)
Sanskrit: पण्डित (sa) m (paṇḍita)
Serbo-Croatian:
Roman: pàndit (sh) m
Spanish: pandito m, pandit
Tamil: பண்டிதன் (ta) (paṇṭitaṉ)
Telugu: పండితుడు (te) (paṇḍituḍu)
Thai: บัณฑิต (th) (ban-dìt)
Urdu: پنڈت‎ m (panḍit)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Czech: ^{(please verify)} učenec (cs) m, ^{(please verify)} vzdělanec (cs) m
Hungarian: ^{(please verify)} írástudó (hu)
Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} učènjāk (sh) m, ^{(please verify)} znànstvenīk (sh) m
Turkish: ^{(please verify)} bilgin (tr), ^{(please verify)} âlim (tr)
Urdu: ^{(please verify)} پنڈت‎ m (panḍit)

Anagrams

undipt