khansamah

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Urdu خانسامان, from خان (xān, “master”) +‎ سامان (sāmān, “household goods”).

Noun

khansamah (plural khansamahs)

1. (East India) A house-steward or native servant, being in charge of the kitchen and the food supplies.
   • 1866, Frederick F. Wyman, From Calcutta to the Snowy Range, page 330:

     An old sinner, in shape of a khansamah, is the genius of the place, and has rarely aught else to tempt the tired traveller with than a “sudden death”—a fowl caught running in the yard, and dished up forthwith; […]

   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “My Own True Ghost Story”, in The Phantom ’Rickshaw and Other Tales, Folio Society, published 2005, page 105:

     The day shut in and the khansamah went to get me food.

Alternative forms

• kansama, kansamah, khansama, khansaman