Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·South Asia ·1800s
Chutney
from caṭnī
- Meaning
- A savoury condiment of fruit, herbs, and spices.
- Source word
- caṭnī
- Route into English
- Hindi *caṭnī* → Anglo-Indian → English. From *caṭnā* (to lick) — the name captures how the sauce is eaten by the fingerful rather than served in spoons.
- Arrived
- 1800s
From South Asia
Three centuries of British colonial contact — East India Company, Raj, military, domestic life — deposited a distinct Hindi/Urdu/Bengali/Sanskrit layer in everyday English.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.