Word.ws English Dictionary

patel

/pəˈtɛl/

patel noun: a village head man.

Noun

patel (plural patels)

  1. (India, historical) A village head man.
    • In the troublous times which followed 1804, when the Maráthá power was waning, and every district almost was a scene of struggle for the supremacy, the patels everywhere came forward and boldly protected the villages, […]1892, Baden Henry Baden-Powell, The Land Systems of British India (book 3, page 464)

Proper noun capitalized: Patel

Patel (plural Patels)

  1. A surname from Gujarati, meaning “village headman”.
    • As of late last week, some close to Trump believed it was a “toss-up” between Patel and Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey as to whom the president-elect would pick for FBI director, according to a source familiar with the discussions.2024 December 2, Jack Forrest, “Who is Kash Patel, Trump’s pick for FBI director?”, in CNN
    • In a statement posted on social media, Bondi said that the man, identified in court documents as 37-year-old Sean Charles Dunn, has since been fired. […] On Wednesday night, the FBI director, Kash Patel, said that Dunn had been charged with felony assault on a federal officer.2025 August 14, Anna Betts, “Alleged DC sandwich-thrower worked at justice department, attorney general says”, in The Guardian

patel meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

patel in Hindi

role or position of a patel
पटेल paṭel

patel in Tamil

பட்டேல், படேல்

patel in Marathi

पटेल

patel in Urdu

پٹیل
More languagesFewer languages
patel in Bengali
প্যাটেল, পটেল
patel in Telugu
పటేల్
patel in Malayalam
പട്ടേൽ
patel in Kannada
ಪಟೇಲ್
patel in Punjabi
ਪਟੇਲ, ਪੈਟਲ
patel in Gujarati
પટેલ paṭel
patel in Odia
ପଟେଲ, ପଟେଲ୍
patel in Nepali
पटेल, प्याटेल

Forms of patel

Noun
pluralpatels
alternative formpatail
alternative formpatell
alternative formpattel
alternative formpotail
Proper noun
pluralPatels

Plural of patel: patels

Origin of patel

Borrowed from Gujarati પટેલ (paṭel, “village headman”), which is from Sanskrit पट्टकिल (paṭṭakila).

Borrowed from Gujarati પટેલ (paṭěl, “village headman”), from Prakrit 𑀧𑀝𑁆𑀝𑀇𑀮𑁆𑀮 (paṭṭaïlla), from Sanskrit पट्टकिल (paṭṭakila). Doublet of Patil.

Words formed from patel

Phrases with patel

Words that rhyme with patel

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about patel

What does patel mean?
Patel means a village head man.
What is patel in Hindi?
Patel in Hindi is पटेल (paṭel). See Patel meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is patel?
Patel can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce patel?
Patel is pronounced /pəˈtɛl/.
What is the plural of patel?
The plural of patel is patels.

Words near patel in the dictionary

  1. patefaction
  2. patefactions
  3. patefy
  4. Patek
  5. Pateks
  6. patel
  7. Patel hotel
  8. Patel hotels
  9. Patel Nagar
  10. patela
  11. patelas

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: patel (page history and authors); Patel (page history and authors); patel (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); patel (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); patel (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); patel (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); patel (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); patel (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); patel (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); patel (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); patel (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); patel (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-patel.wav.

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