Word.ws English Dictionary

indian

Syllables: In·di·anUK/ˈɪn.dɪ.ən//ˈɪn.di.ən/

indian is the alternative letter-case form of Indian.

Adjective capitalized: Indian

Indian (comparative more Indian, superlative most Indian)

  1. Of or relating to India or its people; or (formerly) of the East Indies.
    • An IAF representative told an Indian parliamentary committee that due to the Ukraine war a “major delivery” from Moscow “is not going to take place.”2023 March 24, Rhea Mogul, “Russia can’t meet India arms deliveries due to Ukraine war, Indian Air Force says”, in CNN, archived from the original on 15 Jun 2024
  2. (obsolete) Eastern; Oriental.
    • The morrow next apprear'd with purple hayre / Yet dropping fresh out of the Indian fount, / And bringing light into the heavens fayre […].1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
  3. (proscribed) Of or relating to the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
    • The hardships of bark-collecting in the primeval forests of South America are of the severest kind, and undergone only by the half-civilized Indians and people of mixed race, in the pay of speculators or companies located in the towns.1879, Friedrich August Flückiger et al., Pharmacographia..., page 346
  4. (Canada, US, proscribed) Made with Indian corn or maize.
    • Indian bread
    • Indian meal
  5. Designating any of various chess openings now characterised by black's attempt to control the board through knights and fianchettoed bishops rather than with a central pawn advance.

Noun capitalized: Indian

Indian (countable and uncountable, plural Indians)

  1. (countable) A person from India.
    • [A]ll personnel are to be hereby ordered to refer to her as a "Kumiho," and not a "Kitsune." Personnel asking what the difference is are to be reminded of the difference between a Cherokee Indian and a New Delhi Indian.2025, collective, “SCP-953”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 08 Jan 2026
    • Young Indians looking for work opportunities have made up a sizeable portion of undocumented migrants in the US, many after making the dangerous trek through Latin America to reach the US southern border.2025 February 7, Esha Mitra, Aishwarya S Iyer and Ross Adkin, “‘Treated like criminals’: Shackling of Indians aboard 40-hour migrant flight sparks new outrage against Trump”, in CNN, archived from...
  2. (countable, proscribed) An American Indian, a member of one of the indigenous peoples of the Americas (generally excluding the Aleut, Inuit, Metis, and Yupik).
    • We stigmatize the Indians, also, as cowardly and treacherous, because they use stratagem in warfare in preference to open force; but in this they are fully justified by their rude code of honor.1820 July, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Traits of Indian Character”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC
    • High Jack had been drinking too much rum ever since we landed in Boca. You know how an Indian is—the palefaces fixed his clock when they introduced him to firewater.1909, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “He Also Serves”, in Options
    Synonyms:
    Amerindian, Native American, Red Indian, First Nations person, American Indian, Amerind, First American, Indigenous American, Indigenous North American, Injun
  3. (countable, obsolete) An indigenous inhabitant of Australia, New Zealand or the Pacific islands.
  4. (abbreviation, ellipsis, uncountable) Ellipsis of Indian cuisine.
    • Have you ever tried Indian?
  5. (UK, abbreviation, colloquial, countable, ellipsis) Ellipsis of Indian meal (“meal consisting of Indian cuisine”).
    • We're going out tonight for an Indian.
  6. (UK, abbreviation, colloquial, countable, ellipsis) Ellipsis of Indian restaurant (“restaurant serving Indian cuisine”).
    • We're going down to the Indian for a curry—wanna join us?
  7. (abbreviation, countable, ellipsis) Ellipsis of Mardi Gras Indian.
  8. A kind of marble (spherical toy) with colored bands on an opaque black base.

Proper noun capitalized: Indian

Indian

  1. (nonstandard) Any of the (unrelated) languages spoken by American Indians.
  2. (nonstandard, rare) Any language spoken by natives of India, especially Hindi.
    • [They said] 'Mutton can speak Indian', 'Mutton can see Kanchinjunga out of his bedroom window'[.]1968, Anne Rider, A hilltop in hazard, page 51

Synonyms of indian

11 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of indian

Noun
pluralindians
pluralIndians
Adjective
comparativemore indian
superlativemost indian
comparativemore Indian
superlativemost Indian

Origin of indian

From Middle English Indien, from Anglo-Norman indien, Middle French indien, corresponding to Ind + -ian or India + -an. Applied to inhabitants of the Americas due to an early misconception that the Americas were the eastern end of Asia / the Indies (hence also the designation of Caribbean islands as the West Indies).

Words formed from indian

Phrases with indian

146 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with indian

Questions about indian

What does indian mean?
Indian means of or relating to India or its people; or (formerly) of the East Indies.
What is indian the alternative letter-case form of?
Indian is the alternative letter-case form of Indian.
What part of speech is indian?
Indian can be an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce indian?
Indian is pronounced /ˈɪn.dɪ.ən/ (UK).

Words near indian in the dictionary

  1. indiaca
  2. Indialantic
  3. indialite
  4. Indiaman
  5. Indiamen
  6. indian
  7. Indian aconite
  8. Indian agent
  9. Indian agents
  10. Indian almond
  11. Indian almonds

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: indian (page history and authors); Indian (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-Indian.ogg.

Cite this entry: “indian.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/indian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.