gentoo
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.37 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A non-Muslim inhabitant of India, a Hindu; specifically, in Southern India, an ethnic-Telugu.
noun
The gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua), a species of penguin.
name
The Telugu language.
noun
Example Sentences
- "The Greeks, and all the Celtic nations, accordingly, burned the bodies of the dead, as the Gentoos do at this day; while the Egyptians, among whom fuel was extremely scarce, placed them in pyramidal monuments, which were the symbols of fire; hence come those prodigious structures which still adorn that country."
- "1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Spiritual Laws” in Essays (First Series), Boston: James Munroe, p. 133, The poor mind does not seem to itself to be any thing, unless it have an outside badge, — some Gentoo diet, or Quaker coat, or Calvinistic prayer- meeting, or philanthropic society, or a great donation, or a high office, or, any how, some wild contrasting action to testify that it is somewhat."
Etymology
Of Anglo-Indian origin (17th century), apparently a borrowing from Portuguese gentio (“heathen”) (compare gentile (“pagan”)).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: gentio