Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

dabbawalla

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables
dab-bawal-la
IPA
18
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
5
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A deliveryperson in Mumbai, India who collects freshly cooked food in lunchboxes from workers' residences (mostly in the suburbs), delivers it to their respective workplaces, and returns the empty containers.

Indian usage

Example Sentences

Etymology

Borrowed from Marathi डबेवाला (ḍabevālā), Hindi डब्बावाला (ḍabbāvālā), literally "person with a box".

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: डबेवाला, डब्बावाला

Usage

Inflected Forms

dabbawallas (plural) dabbawala (alternative) dabbawallah (alternative)

Questions

What does dabbawalla mean?
A deliveryperson in Mumbai, India who collects freshly cooked food in lunchboxes from workers' residences (mostly in the suburbs), delivers it to their respective workplaces, and returns the empty containers.
Where does dabbawalla come from?
It is traced to Hindi.

How to pronounce dabbawalla

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “dabbawalla”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “dabbawalla”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “dabbawalla” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.