malaun

English

Alternative forms

• maluan (misspelling)

Etymology

From Bengali মালাউন (malaun, “cursed”), which is from Arabic مَلْعُون (malʕūn), ultimately from the root ل ع ن (l-ʕ-n).

Noun

malaun (plural malauns)

1. (South Asia, offensive, derogatory, ethnic slur, politics) a Hindu person from Bangladesh.
   • 2017, WIO News[1]

     And then there comes the word ‘Malaun.’ For many Bangladeshi Muslims, Malaun is synonymous to Hindu. Owing to the wide usage of the word since the Partition of 1947, especially after the birth of Bangladesh in 1971, people have almost forgotten Malaun is a derogatory word.

2. (South Asia, offensive, derogatory, ethnic slur) a Hindu person in general.

Synonyms

• bhakt (in some contexts)
• kafir