Word.ws English Dictionary

havildar

UK/ˈhavɪldɑː/US/ˈhævɪldɑɹ/

havildar noun: an noncommissioned officer rank in parts of India, later a specific military rank of the British Indian Army and of the modern armies of India and Pakistan, equivalent to sergeant.

Noun

havildar (plural havildars)

  1. (South-Asia) An noncommissioned officer rank in parts of India, later a specific military rank of the British Indian Army and of the modern armies of India and Pakistan, equivalent to sergeant.
    • ‘There was a great fight,’ said the Havildar, ‘and of us no man escaped unhurt.’1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘At Howli Thana’, Black and White, Folio Society, published 2005, page 388
    • On being congratulated by the Russian, the Gurkha havildar, or sergeant, whispered anxiously to Younghusband that he should inform the towering Gromchevsky that they were unusually small and that most Gurkhas were even taller than he was.1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 406

havildar meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Punjabi

havildar in Hindi

havildar, sergeant
हवलदार havaldār

havildar in Tamil

படைத்துறை மேலாள்

havildar in Malayalam

havildar
ഹവിൽദാർ havildāṟ

havildar in Punjabi

havildar
ਹਵਾਲਦਾਰ havāldār

Forms of havildar

pluralhavildars
alternative formavaldar
alternative formhavaldar
alternative formhavildah

Origin of havildar

Borrowed from Hindustani حوالدار (ḥavāldār) / हविलदार (havildār), from Persian حوالدار (havâldâr), from Arabic حَوَالَة (ḥawāla, “charge”) + Persian دار (dâr, “holder”).

Questions about havildar

What does havildar mean?
Havildar means an noncommissioned officer rank in parts of India, later a specific military rank of the British Indian Army and of the modern armies of India and Pakistan, equivalent to sergeant.
What is havildar in Hindi?
Havildar in Hindi is हवलदार (havaldār). See Havildar meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is havildar?
Havildar is a noun.
How do you pronounce havildar?
Havildar is pronounced /ˈhavɪldɑː/ (UK).
What is the plural of havildar?
The plural of havildar is havildars.

Words near havildar in the dictionary

  1. Havilah
  2. Haviland
  3. Havilands
  4. havildah
  5. havildahs
  6. havildar
  7. havildars
  8. havin'
  9. having
  10. having a bad time of it
  11. having a ball

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: havildar (page history and authors); हवलदार (Hindi) (page history and authors); havildar (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ഹവിൽദാർ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ਹਵਾਲਦਾਰ (Punjabi) (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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Cite this entry: “havildar.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/havildar. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.