# India

Pronunciation: say "IN-dee-uh" US /ˈɪndi.ə/, UK /ˈɪndiːə/

## Proper noun

1. A country in South Asia, officially the Republic of India, with its capital at New Delhi.
   - Simple: A large country in southern Asia, with its capital at New Delhi.
   - _India shares land borders with six countries, among them Pakistan, China and Bangladesh._
   - _The film crew flew to India to document the great rivers of the north._
2. The Indian subcontinent, a region of South Asia traditionally bounded by the Himalayas and the Indus River.
   - Simple: A large region of southern Asia, bordered by the Himalaya mountains and the Indus river.
   - _The earliest cities of India grew up along great river valleys thousands of years ago._
   - _From the Indus to the Ganges, the great rivers of India have fed farmers across the region for thousands of years._
3. A territory of the British Empire that chiefly comprised the modern-day countries of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and, until 1937, Burma.
   - Simple: A large area of South Asia once ruled by Britain, covering today's India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and nearby lands.
   - _From 1858 until 1911, the viceroy governed India from Calcutta._
   - _Raw materials drawn from India were central to imperial trade networks._

## Origin

The name goes back to Proto-Indo-Iranian *síndʰuš ('river'), passing through Sanskrit सिन्धु (sindhu) and Old Persian hiⁿdūš to Ancient Greek Ἰνδός (Indós, the Indus river). Greek formed Ἰνδία (Indía), which entered Latin as India. Modern English India was reshaped on the Latin model from Middle English Inde and Ynde (taken mainly from Old French Ynde), though it may also partly continue Old English India.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/india (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).