English

Noun

munshi ‎(plural munshis)

1. (South Asia) A secretary or language teacher. [from 17th c.]
   • 2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin 2015, p. 131:

     This meant that Paulette had learnt a good deal of Latin from her father, while also absorbing Indian languages from the learned munshis who had been enlisted to assist the curator with his collections.

   • 2011, Tessa Hadley, The Guardian, 11 Jun 2011:

     The Raja, for example, escaped and, while in disguise, finds work as Bahram's munshi or secretary – but these strands never quite recover the verve of their first outing.

   • 2012, Sarah Bradford, ‘Merry Monarch’, Literary Review, 401:

     When Victoria died Bertie took his revenge by expunging every personal trace of her life at Windsor, dismantling her rooms (which he then occupied), and burning her letters to her Indian servant, the ‘Munshi’, in the latter's presence.

   • 2012, Times of India, 15 Aug 2012:

     "Not only my father Garib Das and two elder brothers--Raghav Das and Anurag Das--and brother-in-law Anup Lal were indomitable freedom fighters, but even our ‘munshi’ and domestic servants were greatly touched by the patriotic fervour", says 83-year-old Parimal Das, a native of village Khajuri in Araria district.