charpoy

English

Alternative forms

• charpai, charpaya

Etymology

From Hindustani چار پائی (cār pāī) / चारपाई (cārpāī), from चार (cār, “four”) + पाई (pāī, “feet”), thus literally “quadruped” or “tetrapod”.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtʃɑːpɔɪ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɑɹpɔɪ/

Noun

charpoy (plural charpoys)

1. (South Asia) A traditional bedstead used in South Asia, consisting of a wooden frame bordering a set of knotted ropes.
   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “To be Filed for Reference”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society, published 2004, page 213:

     Here is a charpoy on which two can sit, and it is possible that there may, from time to time, be food in that platter.

   • 1934, George Orwell, chapter 13, in Burmese Days‎^[1]:

     Flory crossed the brick-like earth of the yard between the hospital sheds. All down the wide verandas, on sheetless charpoys, rows of grey-faced men lay silent and moveless.

   • 2008, Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger, Atlantic, published 2009, page 54:

     There, every morning, tens of thousands of young men sit in the tea shops, reading the newspaper, or lie on a charpoy humming a tune, or sit in their rooms talking to a photo of a film actress.

Translations

a traditional bedstead

• Hindi: चारपाई (hi) f (cārpāī)
• Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi: ਮੰਜੀ f (mañjī)

  Shahmukhi: مَنْجی f (manjī)

• Urdu: چار پائی f (cār pāī)

See also

• teapoy