khitmatgar

English

Alternative forms

• khedmutgar, khedmatgar, khidmatgar, khidmutgar, khitmutgar, kitmagar, khitmagar, kismutgar, kistmutgar, kitmuddar, kitmutgar, kitmutgaur

Etymology

Borrowed from Hindustani خدمتگار (xidmatgār) / ख़िदमतगार, from Classical Persian خدمتگار (xidmatgār).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɪtmətɡɑː/, /ˈkid-/

Noun

khitmatgar (plural khitmatgars)

1. (British India, South Asia) A male servant, with responsibility for waiting at table.

   Synonym: khit

   • 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 384:

     I found her closely locked in the arms of a handsome lad, one of my kitmuddars, with the infant by her side, all three being in a deep sleep, from which I awakened the two elders.

   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Arrest of Lieutenant Golightly”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio, published 2005, page 94:

     He did not know then that his khitmatgar had stopped by the roadside to get drunk, and would come on the next day saying that he had sprained his ankle.

   • 1983, Lawrence Durrell, Sebastian (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 1108:

     ‘The Ambassador to Bangalore appeared before me dressed in the robes of a khitmagar or majordomo.’