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It’s no hot take to say that the original pundits were highly learned scholars and teachers in India; it’s just a statement of fact. Our English word pundit comes from the Hindi word paṇḍit, a term of respect (and sometimes an honorary title) for a wise person, especially one with knowledge of philosophy, religion, and law; its ultimate source is the Sanskrit word paṇḍita, meaning “learned.” English speakers have used pundit to refer to sages of India since the 1600s, but as is typically done with English, they eventually pushed the word into new semantic territory. By the late 1800s, pundit could also refer to a member of what is sometimes called the commentariat or punditocracy—that is, the collective group of political commentators, financial analysts, and newspaper columnists often paid to share their views on a variety of subjects.
Examples of pundit in a Sentence
Trent Reinsmith, Forbes.com, 20 May 2025
His on-screen style was smooth and, ironically, given the way his BBC career has ended, uncontroversial, preferring to let his pundits sound off on the game’s big issues.
—Philip Buckingham, New York Times, 19 May 2025
Soccer pundit Gary Lineker will leave the BBC sooner than planned following an antisemitism row, the corporation has confirmed.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 19 May 2025
During that entire time, the fans demanded the dismissal of general manager Nico Harrison, the architect of the deal to send Dončić to the City of Angels, and pundits declared that the Mavericks had just made a potentially franchise killing move.
—Kyle Feldscher, CNN Money, 13 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for pundit
Cite this Entry
“Pundit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pundit. Accessed 25 May. 2025.
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