wallah

noun

wal·​lah ˈwä-lə 

 in combination usually  ˌwä-lə

: a person who is associated with a particular work or who performs a specific duty or service

—usually used in combination

the book wallah was an itinerant peddler

—George Orwell

Did you know?

Wallah comes from the Hindi suffix -vālā, meaning "one in charge." Like its Hindi counterpart, "wallah" is commonly used in combination with other nouns. The first use of "wallah" appeared as "lootywallah" in a narrative penned by Officer Innes Munro describing his time deployed on the Coromandel Coast of India in the 1780s. "Looty," or "lootie," was a noun sometimes applied to a member of a band of marauders or robbers. In the narrative, Munro used the term to describe looting cavalrymen. In current writing, "wallah" is typically accompanied by words like "office" or "marketing."

Examples of wallah in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Many young men like him, born into impoverished and landless homes in Western Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district, become pheri wallahs or travelling cloth salesman. —Harsh Mander, Quartz India, 28 Apr. 2020

Such a system would be welcome in Brussels, where EU wallahs are pondering the fate of its flagship European Green Deal. —The Economist, 5 Mar. 2020

In 2017 Dan Carden, a former union wallah, went up against Joe Anderson, Liverpool’s mayor, for the nomination. —The Economist, 5 Dec. 2019

Word History

Etymology

Hindi & Urdu -vālā one in charge, from Sanskrit pāla protector, from pālayati, pārayati he guards; akin to Sanskrit piparti he brings over, saves, Old English faran to go — more at fare

First Known Use

1782, in the meaning defined above

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