दलाल

Hindi

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian دَلّال (dallāl), from Arabic دَلَّال (dallāl, “auctioneer, broker, middleman, agent”). First attested as Old Hindi दलाल (dalāla).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Hindi) IPA^(key): /d̪ə.lɑːl/, [d̪ɐ.läːl]

Noun

दलाल • (dalāl) m (Urdu spelling دَلَال)

1. broker, dealer, agent

   Synonym: बिचौलिया (bicauliyā)

2. pimp

   Synonyms: कुटना (kuṭnā), भड़ुआ (bhaṛuā), भाड़ू (bhāṛū), (vulgar) दल्ला (dallā)

Declension

Declension of दलाल (masc cons-stem)

	singular	plural
direct	दलाल dalāl	दलाल dalāl
oblique	दलाल dalāl	दलालों dalālõ
vocative	दलाल dalāl	दलालो dalālo

Derived terms

• दलाली (dalālī)

Descendants

• → Burmese: ဒလန် (da.lan)
• → English: dalal, dalaal, Dalal

Further reading

• McGregor, Ronald Stuart (1993), “दलाल”, in The Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary, London: Oxford University Press, page 483
• “दलाल”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2026.

Marathi

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian دَلّال (dallāl), from Arabic دَلَّال (dallāl, “auctioneer, broker, middleman, agent”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d̪ə.lal/

Noun

दलाल • (dalāl) m

1. broker, go-between

Derived terms

• दलाली (dalālī, “brokerage”)

Further reading

• Berntsen, Maxine (1982–1983), “दलाल”, in A Basic Marathi-English Dictionary, New Delhi: American Institute of Indian Studies, page 67
• Molesworth, James Thomas (1857), “दलाल”, in A dictionary, Marathi and English, Bombay: Printed for government at the Bombay Education Society's Press, page 404
• दाते, यशवंत रामकृष्ण [Date, Yashwant Ramkrishna] (1932-1950), “दलाल”, in महाराष्ट्र शब्दकोश (mahārāṣṭra śabdakoś) (in Marathi), पुणे [Pune]: महाराष्ट्र कोशमंडळ (mahārāṣṭra kośmaṇḍaḷ), page 1620

Old Hindi

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian دَلّال (dallāl), from Arabic دَلَّال (dallāl, “auctioneer, broker, middleman, agent”). Compare Old Punjabi ਦਲਾਲੁ (dalālu), Middle Bengali দালাল (dalal).

Noun

दलाल (dalāla)

1. broker

Derived terms

• दलाली (dalālī)

Descendants

• Hindustani: dalāl

  Hindi: दलाल

  • → Burmese: ဒလန် (da.lan)
  • → English: dalal, dalaal, Dalal

  Urdu: دَلَال (dalāl)

Further reading

• Jaroslav Strnad (2013), Morphology and Syntax of Old Hindī : Edition and Analysis of One Hundred Kabīr Vānī Poems From Rājasthān (Brill's Indological Library; 45), Leiden, →OCLC, page 538