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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
Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 14 Oct. 2025
Projected by some pundits to land higher in the draft, the 6-foot-7 big man’s fall was the Hornets’ gain.
—Roderick Boone, Charlotte Observer, 13 Oct. 2025
Many pundits and analysts called for Miami to blow things up, especially after the comments made by Tagovailoa.
—James Brizuela, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Oct. 2025
In the aftermath, more than a dozen former players and pundits called out Tagovailoa.
—Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 13 Oct. 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 16 Oct. 2025.
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