Raj

See also: raj, and ráj

English

WOTD – 2 August 2021

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɹɑːd͡ʒ/, (hyperforeign) /ɹɑːʒ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɹɑd͡ʒ/
• Rhymes: -ɑːd͡ʒ
• Homophones: raj, Rog (US pronunciation)

Etymology 1

Proprialisation of raj (“(India) reign, rule”, noun), borrowed from Hindustani राज / راج (rāj, “reign, rule; empire, kingdom; country, state; royalty”), from Sanskrit राज्य (rājyá, “empire, kingdom, realm; kingship, royalty, sovereignty; country”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to right or straighten oneself; to govern, rule; just; right”). Doublet of Reich.

Proper noun

Raj (countable and uncountable, plural Rajs or Rajes) (historical)

1. Short for British Raj; the period of colonial rule of the Indian subcontinent by the British Empire between 1858 and 1947.

   Synonym: British India

   during the Raj

2. (proscribed) The whole period of British influence or rule in the Indian subcontinent from the 1600s to 1947.
3. A surname.
4. A male given name.

Translations

period of colonial rule of the Indian subcontinent by the British Empire — see also British Raj

• Hindi: राज (hi) m (rāj)

Noun

Raj (plural Rajes)

1. (by extension from the proper noun) A system of government where authority is exercised by a specific group.
   • 1965, New Race‎^[1], volume 1:

     After Gandhiji's Ram Raj, which lived and went with him to the wilderness, it was Goonda Raj everywhere[...]There was nothing that the goonda did not manpiulate. He turned community development blocks into chips of self-aggrandisement. Panchyat Raj was the Pentagon of Goonda Raj.

   • 1999, Ronald J. Herring, edited by Meredith Jung-En Woo, The Developmental State, →ISBN, page 310:

     Concern that the license - permit quota raj was stifling growth focused on the drop in the rate of growth in industry after 1965...

Translations

system of government where authority is exercised by a specific group

• Hindi: राज (hi) m (rāj)

Etymology 2

Proper noun

Raj

1. (India, journalism) Abbreviation of Rajasthan.

Etymology 3

Proper noun

Raj (plural Rajs)

1. A diminutive of the male given name Rajiv.

Anagrams

• JAR, JRA, ajr, jar