List of English Words of Hindi or Urdu Origin - J

J

Jaconet

modification of Sanskrit jagannaath, from Jagannath (Puri), where such cloth was first made.

Jinnah cap

after Pakistani statesman Muhammad Ali Jinnah died in 1948. A hat shaped like a fez but made of real or imitation karakul and worn by Pakistani Muslims on occasion. It is called a "Karakulli topi" (Topi meaning cap).

Jodhpurs

Full-length trousers, worn for horseback riding, that are close-fitting below the knee and have reinforced patches on the inside of the leg. Named after Jodhpur, where similar garments are worn by Indian men as part of everyday dress.

Juggernaut

from Jagannath (Sanskrit: जगन्नाथ jagannātha), a form of Vishnu particularly worshipped at the Jagannath Temple, Puri, Orissa where during Rath Yatra festival thousands of devotees pull temple carts some 14m (45 feet) tall, weighing hundreds of tons through the streets. These carts seat three images of the deity, meant to be brothers for a 'stroll' outside after the ritual worship session. They are fed by thousands and thousands of worshipers with holy food, as if the icons were living. Early European visitors witnessed these festivals and returned with—possibly apocryphal—reports of religious fanatics committing suicide by throwing themselves under the wheels of the carts. So the word became a metaphor for something immense and unstoppable because of institutional or physical inertia; or impending catastrophe that is foreseeable yet virtually unavoidable because of such inertia.

Jungle

from जङल् jangal, another word for wilderness or forest.