Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·South Asia ·1610s
Rupee
from रुपया (rūpayā)
- Meaning
- The currency unit of India, Pakistan, and other South Asian countries.
- Source word
- रुपया (rūpayā)
- Route into English
- Sanskrit *rūpyakam* (wrought silver) → Hindi/Urdu *rūpayā* → English via the British administration of India, where the word was standardised in the 16th-century currency system of Sher Shah Suri.
- Arrived
- 1610s
From South Asia
Three centuries of British colonial contact — East India Company, Raj, military, domestic life — deposited a distinct Hindi/Urdu/Bengali/Sanskrit layer in everyday English.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.