babuism
babuism noun: a malapropism or other erroneous form produced by an Indian speaking English.
Noun
babuism (countable and uncountable, plural babuisms)
- A malapropism or other erroneous form produced by an Indian speaking English.
- They altered the idiom, but they could say whatever they wanted to say quickly; there were none of the babuisms ascribed to them up at the Club.1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin, published 2005, page 60
- Abandoning its original application, then, let us use "babu English," or "babuism," as a general term to mean discourse in which the speaker (or writer) throws around learned words he does not understand in order to create a favorable impression. Babuism probably has existed and will continue to...1972, Samuel Ichiyé Hayakawa, Language in thought and action, page 239
Forms of babuism
| plural | babuisms |
|---|
Origin of babuism
From babu + -ism.
Questions about babuism
- What does babuism mean?
- Babuism means a malapropism or other erroneous form produced by an Indian speaking English.
- What part of speech is babuism?
- Babuism is a noun.
- What is the plural of babuism?
- The plural of babuism is babuisms.
Words near babuism in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: babuism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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