namaste

See also: namasté and namastê

English

Etymology

Borrowing from Sanskrit नमस्ते (namaste), from नमस् (námas, “bow, obeisance, reverential salutation”), and ते (te, “to you”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *namas- (“to bow, prostrate”). Compare Persian نماز (namâz).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnʌməsteɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Interjection

namaste

1. Literally "I bow to you"; used as a greeting or acknowledgement of the equality of all, which pays honor to the sacredness of all.
   • 2013, Susan Clare, Namaste Baby: A Journey to Surrogacy in India, Troubador Publishing Ltd (ISBN 9781783061686), page 241

     I shuffled from one foot to the other outside the room, as I delayed going in. Finally, I took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and knocked on the door. 'Come in.' It seemed that Vimla was expecting me. 'Namaste.' She said, and gestured for me to ...

Noun

namaste (plural namastes)

1. The traditional greeting when saying the word namaste with folded hands and a slight bow.
2. In yoga, the pose associated with this word, usually with the flat hands held palms together, fingers up, in front of the heart and a slight bow.

Translations

a greeting

• Arabic: ناماستي‎
• Armenian: նամաստե (namaste)
• Bengali: নমস্কার (bn) (nômôskar)
• Catalan: nàmaste
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 那摩斯戴 (nàmósīdài)

• Czech: namasté
• French: namasté (fr)
• Gujarati: નમસ્તે (namaste)
• Hindi: नमस्ते (hi) (namaste)
• Italian: namaste, namasté, namastèe, namaskar
• Japanese: ナマステ (namasute)
• Kannada: ನಮಸ್ತೆ (namaste)
• Korean: 나마스테 (namaseute)
• Malayalam: നമസ്തേ (ml) (namastē)
• Marathi: नमस्ते (namaste)
• Nepali: नमस्ते (ne) (namaste)

• Norwegian: namaste
• Persian: نمسته‎ (namaste)
• Polish: namaste
• Portuguese: namastê, namaste
• Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi: ਨਮਸਤੇ (namaste)

  Shahmukhi: نمستے‎ (namaste)

• Romanian: namaste
• Russian: намастэ́ n (namastɛ́), намасте́ n (namastɛ́)
• Sanskrit: नमस्ते (namaste)
• Spanish: namasté, námaste
• Swedish: namaste
• Tamil: நமஸ்தே (namastē)
• Telugu: నమస్తే (te) (namastē)
• Urdu: نمستے‎ (namaste)

Verb

namaste (third-person singular simple present namastes, present participle namasteing, simple past and past participle namasted)

1. (intransitive) To utter "namaste".

   The yoga instructor namasted, and the class began.

Related terms

• namaskar
• Appendix:Gestures/namaste

Anagrams

• Eastman, smetana

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Portuguese

Interjection

namaste

1. Alternative form of namastê