Hindi

1. 1
   proper noun

   The standardized, Sanskritized form of the Hindustani language, based on the Khariboli dialect.

   He writes most of his poetry in Hindi rather than English.

   The conference offered live translation into Hindi for visiting delegates.

   Note

   The name is the language's own word. English borrowed it from Hindi hindī, which came from Classical Persian hindī: Hind plus the adjective ending -i, so 'of Hind'. That root meaning survives in the historical 'Indian' adjective. This sense is the narrowest and most everyday one, the standardized language itself, in contrast to the linguist's whole-belt Hindi, which counts far more varieties under the same name.

2. 2
   adjective

   Relating to or expressed in the Hindi language.

   He grew up listening to Hindi songs on the radio.

   The library keeps a large collection of Hindi literature.

3. 3
   proper noun

   The related Indo-Aryan languages that form the Central Zone, also found in Fiji and Guyana and spoken as a second language by Indian communities in many other countries.

   Indentured laborers carried Hindi to Fiji and Guyana in the nineteenth century.

   Across the central belt, Hindi extends as a cluster of related Indo-Aryan tongues.

4. 4
   proper noun

   All the lects spoken in the Hindi Belt, including some that do not belong to the Central Zone of Indo-Aryan languages.

   Census takers sometimes record Hindi so broadly that it covers dozens of distinct lects.

   Under the widest definition, Hindi takes in speech forms well outside the Central Zone.

   Note

   Here Hindi is a label drawn on the map rather than on the family tree. It takes in every lect of the Hindi Belt, so varieties outside the Central Zone count too, with Bhojpuri of the Eastern Zone as the usual example. The Central Zone grouping draws its line by relationship, while this sense draws it by territory. Any count of 'Hindi speakers' depends on which line it uses, and this one gives the largest figure.

5. 5
   adjectivehistorical

   Indian; relating to India or its inhabitants.

   The captain's ledger listed bales of Hindi cotton bound for European ports.

   Merchants prized Hindi wares for their fine workmanship.

   SimilarIndian

   Note

   An older use in which the word pointed to a place rather than a language: Persian hindī, built from Hind plus the adjective-forming -i, meant "of Hind," that is, of India. Today the adjective belongs to the language meaning, so in modern writing Indian is the safe choice, and this use reads as historical. It also takes no comparative: nothing is more Hindi than something else.

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