pundit

• pandit

Borrowed from Hindi पंडित (paṇḍit) / Urdu پنڈت (panḍit), from Sanskrit पण्डित (paṇḍita, “scholar, learned man, teacher, philosopher”). Doublet of pandit.

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈpʌn.dɪt/

  • Audio (US)

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• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈpan.dɪt/

  • Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -ʌndɪt

pundit (plural pundits)

1. An expert in a particular field, especially as called upon to provide comment or opinion in the media; a commentator, a critic. [from 19th c.]
   • 2006 June 4, The Observer:

     This week we introduce Jenny Walker, who will be The Observer's expert pundit for the duration of the World Cup.

2. A learned person in India; someone with knowledge of Sanskrit, philosophy, religion and law; a Hindu scholar. [from 17th c.]
   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘On the City Wall’, In Black and White, Folio Society, published 2005, page 430:

     Pundits in black gowns, with spectacles on their noses and undigested wisdom in their insides; bearded headmen of the wards; [...] all these people and more also you might find in the white room.

3. (historical) A native surveyor in British India, trained to carry out clandestine surveillance beyond British borders.
   • 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 295:

     At every hundredth pace the Pundit would automatically slip one bead. Each complete circuit of the rosary thus represented ten thousand paces.

• pundithood
• punditocracy
• punditry
• punditship

• pundit on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• undipt