Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·South Asia ·1820s
Yoga
from योग (yoga)
- Meaning
- A Hindu spiritual discipline involving breath, posture, and meditation.
- Source word
- योग (yoga)
- Route into English
- Sanskrit *yoga* (yoking, union) → English via colonial-era religious writings. Modern Western usage usually means the physical practice; the Sanskrit term is broader.
- Arrived
- 1820s
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.