Word of the Day

: May 26, 2007

wallah

noun WAH-luh

What It Means

: a person who is associated with a particular work or who performs a specific duty or service -- usually used in combination

wallah in Context

"Location, location and location. That's what it's all about, trumpet the real-estate wallahs." (Tony Baker, The Advertiser, August 3, 2005)

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."