wallah

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English

Etymology

From Hindi -wālā 'man, person in charge', from Sanskrit pāla 'protector'

Noun

wallah (plural wallahs)

  1. Template:India A servant or other person responsible for something, often specified after it, for example kitchen wallah.
    1931 - Kindly take one of my cigarettes, sir. Do you not admire my new silver case, sir? From the boxwallah, two rupees eight annas. - A Hanging, George Orwell
  2. Template:British A guy or bloke.

Derived terms

Interjection

wallah!

  1. Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "voilà" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E.

References

  • Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967