puja

See also: pujá, pujà, and pūjā

English

Alternative forms

• pooja

Etymology

From Sanskrit पूजा (pūjā, “reverence or worship”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpuːdʒə/

Noun

puja (countable and uncountable, plural pujas)

1. A religious ritual performed in South Asia as an act of worship. [from 17th c.]
   • 1879, Frances Maria Milman, Memoir of the Right Rev. Robert Milman, page 79:

     The Grunth, the holy book of the Sikhs, seems to be becoming an object of idolatrous worship. They do puja to it, and carry it in procession daily.

   • 1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin, published 2005, page 122:

     ‘Godbole's pujah did it,’ cried the Englishman.

   • 1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 43:

     The priest had performed the puja and tied a string around his father's silk purse to make sure that the Rana didn't spend even a copper coin while he was a guest of Merta.

   • 2023, Radhika Iyengar, Fire on the Ganges, Fourth Estate, page 18:

     Deeming the tank ‘polluted’ and its water unfit for consumption, a puja ceremony was performed by Brahmin men to ‘purify’ the reservoir.

Related terms

• pujari

Anagrams

• jaup

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈpu.ʒə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈpu.d͡ʒa]

Etymology 1

Deverbal from pujar.

Noun

puja f (plural puges)

1. ascent, rise, gain

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Sanskrit पूजा (pūjā, “reverence; worship”).

Noun

puja f (plural puges)

1. (religion) puja

Etymology 3

Verb

puja

1. inflection of pujar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “puja” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay puja, from Sanskrit पूजा (pūjā). Doublet of puji.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pu.d͡ʒa/
• Hyphenation: pu‧ja

Noun

puja

1. An act of worship.

Derived terms

• memuja
• memuja-muja
• pemuja
• pemujaan
• pujaan

 

Related terms

• puji

 

Further reading

• “puja” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Mauritian Creole

Etymology

From Hindi पूजा (pūjā).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [pudʒa]

Noun

puja

1. (Hinduism) a religious ritual performed as an act of worship.

Derived terms

• pujari

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpuxa/ [ˈpu.xa]
• Rhymes: -uxa
• Syllabification: pu‧ja

Etymology 1

Deverbal from pujar.

Noun

puja f (plural pujas)

1. bid
2. struggle

   pujas de poder ― power struggles

Etymology 2

Verb

puja

1. inflection of pujar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “puja”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014