namaskar

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Sanskrit नमस्कार (namaskāra), from नमस् (namas, “bow, obeisance”) +‎ कार (kāra, “action”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /naməˈskɑː/

Noun

namaskar (countable and uncountable, plural namaskars)

1. (India) The use of the greeting in which one puts one's hands together and bows slightly; greeting with a namaste. [from 19th c.]
   • 1847, “Letter from Mr. Stubbins”, in The General Baptist repository, and Missionary observer, page 286:

     To every one I met I made my namaskar, and on entering my village, I made namaskar to a bowri, (a man of low caste.)

   • 1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 228:

     I bowed down, did namaskar and said a prayer.

   • 2015, Tridip Suhrud, translating Govardhanram Madhavram Tripathi, Sarasvatichandra I, Orient BlackSwan 2015, p. 83:

     Navinchandra greeted the Counsellor with a namaskar; Buddhidhan responded solemnly.

Related terms

• namaste