punkah
/ˈpʌŋkə/
punkah noun: a fan, particularly a large fan made of leaf or cloth and hung from the ceiling, (historical) formerly often operated by a servant.
Noun
punkah (plural punkahs)
- A fan, particularly a large fan made of leaf or cloth and hung from the ceiling, (historical) formerly often operated by a servant.
- A punkah is, by some, used instead of a chattah, (or umbrella); but it is very inferior as a defence against either sun, wind, or rain.1810, Thomas Williamson, East India Vade-Mecum..., page 313
- Outside the court the sun blazed—within was the wind of great punkahs that made you shiver …1900, Joseph Conrad, chapter 4, in Lord Jim
punkah meaning in Hindi, Urdu and Myanmar
punkah in Hindi
- fan
- पंखा paṅkhā
punkah in Urdu
- fan
- پنکھا pankhā
punkah in Myanmar
- fan
- ပန်ကာ panka
Examples of punkah in a sentence
- In the refreshment room a few would-be passengers were cooled by the punkah, worked by a string tied to the big toe of a sleepy Burmese boy.1943 November and December, G. T. Porter, “The Lines Behind the Lines in Burma”, in Railway Magazine, page 325:
- Perhaps it was a mistake to invite Mr Stanhope; the day was intolerably hot and humid; all he wanted to do was to lie on his bed with a punkah sighing over him, at least moving the unbreathable air.1973, Patrick O'Brian, HMS Surprise:
Forms of punkah
| plural | punkahs |
|---|
Origin of punkah
Borrowed from Hindi पंखा (paṅkhā, “fan”), from Sanskrit पक्षक (pakṣaka), from पक्ष (pakṣa, “wing”).
Words formed from punkah
Questions about punkah
- What does punkah mean?
- Punkah means a fan, particularly a large fan made of leaf or cloth and hung from the ceiling, (historical) formerly often operated by a servant.
- What is punkah in Hindi?
- Punkah in Hindi is पंखा (paṅkhā). See Punkah meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use punkah in a sentence?
- In the refreshment room a few would-be passengers were cooled by the punkah, worked by a string tied to the big toe of a sleepy Burmese boy.
- What part of speech is punkah?
- Punkah is a noun.
- How do you pronounce punkah?
- Punkah is pronounced /ˈpʌŋkə/.
- What is the plural of punkah?
- The plural of punkah is punkahs.
Words near punkah in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: punkah (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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “punkah.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/punkah. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.