Bengali

noun

Ben·​gali ben-ˈgȯ-lē How to pronounce Bengali (audio)
beŋ-,
-ˈgä-
1
: a native or resident of Bengal
2
: the modern Indo-Aryan language of Bengal
Bengali adjective

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web The film is based on a story by the late, great Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray and contrasts the pursuit of material wealth with that of intellectual knowledge. Patrick Frater, Variety, 26 May 2023 Saffron rice and garlic naan accompany each of the five main course options, like seasonal squash kofta; paneer mille-feuille; Bengali lamb curry; old Delhi butter chicken; and Goan sea bass. Georgann Yara, The Arizona Republic, 16 May 2023 Satyajit Ray, Who Helped Bring Indian Cinema to the World, Is Born The celebrated filmmaker, who was born in Calcutta, India, to a Bengali family, was best known for his invaluable contributions to cinema, beginning with this directorial debut in 1955 with Pather Panchali. Diane J. Cho, Peoplemag, 1 May 2023 Literary historians in Calcutta in the nineteenth century, generally regarding Muslim literature as somehow not truly Bengali, paid little attention to the Sundarban genre, and even today many people view the Muslim element of these texts as an alien intrusion. Wendy Doniger, The New York Review of Books, 20 Apr. 2023 During the interviews, a Google exec stated that their AI app was able to engage in Bengali even though it was said to not have been data trained in that language. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 19 Apr. 2023 In an interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes on April 16, James Manyika, Google’s SVP for technology and society, discussed how one of the company’s AI systems taught itself Bengali, even though it wasn’t trained to know the language. Faustine Ngila, Quartz, 17 Apr. 2023 Contents are made as originals in a range of local languages including Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati and Bhojpuri. Patrick Frater, Variety, 13 Apr. 2023 The film will be made in the Bengali language with several different local dialects and will be dubbed into the Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam languages. Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 5 Apr. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Bengali.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Hindi baṅgālī, from Baṅgāl Bengal

First Known Use

1762, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of Bengali was in 1762

Dictionary Entries Near Bengali

Cite this Entry

“Bengali.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Bengali. Accessed 7 Jun. 2023.

Kids Definition

Bengali

noun
Ben·​gali ben-ˈgȯ-lē How to pronounce Bengali (audio)
beŋ-
1
: a person born or living in Bengal
2
: the language of Bengal
Bengali adjective

More from Merriam-Webster on Bengali

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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