jawan

English

WOTD – 12 October 2011

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂óyu

Proto-Indo-European *-Hō

Proto-Indo-European *h₂yéwHō

Proto-Indo-Iranian *HyúHā

Proto-Iranian *HyúHā

Classical Persian جوانbor.

Hindi जवान (javān)bor.

English jawan

Borrowed from Hindustani جوان (jvān) / जवान (javān), from Classical Persian جوان (jawān, “young, a youth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒəˈwɑːn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (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

Yagara

Noun

jawan

1. fish

References

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