سپاہی

See also: سپاهی

Baluchi

Noun

سپاہی • (sapáhí, sipáhí)

1. soldier

See also

• سپائی (sapáí, sipáí)

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian سِپَاهِی (sipāhī). First attested in c. 1635 Middle Hindi سپاہی (sipāhī). By surface analysis, سِپاہ (sipāh, “army”) +‎ ی (ī).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /sɪ.pɑː.ɦiː/
• Rhymes: -iː
• Hyphenation: سِ‧پَا‧ہِی

Noun

سِپَاہِی • (sipāhī) m (Hindi spelling सिपाही)

1. soldier, fighter

   Synonyms: عَسْکَری ('askarī), فَوجی (faujī)

2. (historical) sepoy; a Hindustani soldier (ie. a native soldier as opposed to an English soldier)
3. policeman; constable
4. (obsolete) a beadle, pawn (of the government)
5. (figuratively) a brave person

Declension

Declension of سپاہی
	singular	plural
direct	سپاہی (sipāhī)	سپاہی (sipāhī)
oblique	سپاہی (sipāhī)	سپاہِیوں (sipāhiyõ)
vocative	سپاہی (sipāhī)	سپاہِیو (sipāhiyo)

Related terms

• سِپاہْنی (sipāhnī, “female soldier; policewoman”)
• سِپَہ سالار (sipa sālār, “commander; warlord”)

Descendants

• → Tamil: சிப்பாய் (cippāy)
• → Telugu: సిపాయి (sipāyi)
• → Kannada: ಸಿಪಾಯಿ (sipāyi)
• → Malayalam: ശിപായി (śipāyi)
• → Portuguese: sipaio (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

• “سپاہی”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “سپاہی”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “سپاہی”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
• Platts, John T. (1884) “سپاهي”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co., page 634
• S. W. Fallon (1879) “سپاﮩـي”, in A New Hindustani-English Dictionary, Banaras, London: Trubner and Co., page 746
• John Shakespear (1834) “سپاهي”, in A dictionary, Hindustani and English: with a copious index, fitting the work to serve, also, as a dictionary of English and Hindustani, 3^rd edition, London: J.L. Cox and Son, →OCLC