Bengali

noun

Ben·​gali ben-ˈgȯ-lē How to pronounce Bengali (audio)
beŋ-,
-ˈgä-
1
: a native or resident of Bengal
2
: the modern Indo-Aryan language of Bengal
Bengali adjective

Examples of Bengali in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Goswami translated Othello, Macbeth, King Lear and Hamlet into Bengali. Laurel Dalrymple, NPR, 3 Mar. 2024 Reporting was contributed by Victoria Kim, Shashank Bengali, Abu Bakr Bashir, Nader Ibrahim, Julian E. Barnes, Lauren Leatherby, Gaya Gupta, Monika Pronczuk, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Adam Sella. Michael Levenson, New York Times, 1 Mar. 2024 For Bengali Americans who grew up in the United States, the festival is a link back to their heritage. Ian Duncan, Washington Post, 21 Oct. 2023 And the Indo-Iranian branch resulted in languages like Hindi, Bengali, Persian and Kurdish. Kurt Kleiner, Discover Magazine, 16 Feb. 2024 The next three Indian languages that commissions are likely to be in are Bengali, Marathi and Kannada. Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 31 Jan. 2024 Historical records show Shalom Aaron Obadiah Cohen, the founder of the Baghdadi Jewish community in Kolkata, reached out to a Bengali Muslim friend regarding the cemetery. Sarah Aziz, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 Jan. 2024 The Yamnaya tongue is one of the earliest offshoots of Proto-Indo-European, and an ancestor of such languages as Greek, German, English, Spanish, Old Celtic, Russian, Persian, Hindi, and Bengali. Manvir Singh, The New Yorker, 25 Dec. 2023 The goddess is Durga and this weekend marks her annual festival, the Durga Puja, celebrated by Bengali communities in India and across the world. Ian Duncan, Washington Post, 21 Oct. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Bengali.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Hindi baṅgālī, from Baṅgāl Bengal

First Known Use

1762, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of Bengali was in 1762

Dictionary Entries Near Bengali

Cite this Entry

“Bengali.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Bengali. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

Bengali

noun
Ben·​gali ben-ˈgȯ-lē How to pronounce Bengali (audio)
beŋ-
1
: a person born or living in Bengal
2
: the language of Bengal
Bengali adjective

More from Merriam-Webster on Bengali

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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