Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Hinduism & Tibetan Buddhism A personal spiritual teacher.
- n. A teacher and guide in spiritual and philosophical matters.
- n. A trusted counselor and adviser; a mentor.
- n. A recognized leader in a field: the guru of high finance.
- n. An acknowledged and influential advocate, as of a movement or idea: "In a culture that worships slimness, he was the Guru of Lean” ( Erica Abeel).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A Hindu spiritual teacher or guide. Also written gooroo.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Same as gooroo.
WordNet 3.0
- n. each of the first ten leaders of the Sikh religion
- n. a recognized leader in some field or of some movement
- n. a Hindu or Buddhist religious leader and spiritual teacher
Etymologies
- From Hindi गुरू (guru) / Urdu گرو (guru), from Sanskrit गुरु (gurú, "venerable, respectable"), originally "heavy" and in this sense cognate to English grieve. (A traditional etymology based on the Advaya Taraka Upanishad (line 16) describes the syllables gu as 'darkness' and ru as 'destroyer', thus meaning "one who destroys/dispels darkness") (Wiktionary)
- Hindi guru, from Sanskrit guruḥ, from guru-, heavy. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Of course, you can still use the word guru to refer to an “actual” guru, say the Indian spiritual leader behind your favorite yoga technique.”
“We've all heard of the term guru, and while it's gotten misconstrued and possibly watered down into a layman's term lately, the original meaning of guru was simple -- one who helped to remove darkness in order to reveal the light.”
The Huffington Post: Alanna Kaivalya: 3 Qualifications of a Yoga Teacher
“The word guru in gurukula is often mistakenly thought of as a charismatic cult leader wearing flowing robes with total control over his followers.”
“We use the word guru for whoever is pleased by a students practice and does not give even the slightest consideration to material gifts.”
“The usual English translation is devotion, hence the term guru-devotion.”
“One interesting thing that just occurred to me is that when they are speaking with less enthusiasm about all the other speakers they'll use the term guru, almost like they are trying to bury the label by comparing themselves as experts while all the others are so called gurus.”
“I've long had a theory about this state of affairs, which I call the guru effect.”
Newsweek: The Practical Futurist: Why Is Easy-To-Use So Hard To Do?
“A new kind of guru is convincing Democrats that they don't need new ideas after all — a snazzy new sales pitch will revive their fortunes”
“The meeting with the guru is probably less than he hoped it would be.”
“Everything about this fashion guru is so dramatic -- down to his collar -- which must be five inches tall and so starched it almost looks like a neck brace.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘guru’.
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POL - people in power
daredevil, tzar, king, boss, master, commander, chief, kingpin, top banana, bigwig, big cheese, big wheel and 452 more...
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Words related to knowledge
Words that relate to learning, knowing, being enlightened...
revelation, eureka, awakening, idea, sapient, astute, canny, intelligent, wise, sharp, shrewd, informed and 467 more...
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Humours of Old Bombay
Terms that call to mind British India.
palkee, chee-chee, dorian, Hindoo, dinghee-wallah, garee, hamal, banghy, hookah-bardar, dak, ghat, mussalchee and 133 more...
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jaydrox's list
Mah list!
mediocracy, captivatingly, devastatingly, dazedly, heavenly, flawless, copious, conviction, synoptic, amalgamation, prefatory, precursory and 150 more...
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people (good)
nouns for good people / words that describe good people.
go to the bad people list
( people, character, descriptor, noun )philanthropist, angel, environmentalist, activist, advocate, volunteer, hero, parent, friend, virtuoso, gentleman, helper and 62 more...
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permanent foreign residents in English
Foreign words and phrases that are perfectly acceptable to use in formal English writing, but still maintain the aura of foreignness. They do not enjoy full citizenship, but remain "alien residents...
prima facie, a priori, a posteriori, avant la lettre, corpus delicti, l'esprit de l'esc..., sans-culotte, memento mori, gesamtkunstwerk, amour propre, guru, deja vu and 25 more...
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Ideas
brainchild, inspiration, muse, genius, eureka, discovery, intellectual prop..., intangible asset, goodwill, patented, savant, brainiac and 76 more...
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September Words-11337
During the month of September, post at least 10 new words to this list. Make sure you cite where you read the word (book/author/pg) and quote the context/sentence where you found it. If someone has...
flabbergasted, discombobulated, inclination, serendipity, savvy, profound, incarnation, myriad, confiscate, audacity, deciduous, adieu and 79 more...
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Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV
Words from the songs of Frank Black, a.k.a. Black Francis
zugzwang, valhalla, montalvo, ishist, tritons, mosh, siam, llano del rio, protohuman, tumbleweeds, ludwigshafen, ballyhoos and 349 more...
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ChortleGiggleSnort
Significant Words- Guiding you on your path to Snazzibility
flimsy, feeble, ranting, ramble, narky, snazzy, yoghurt, bulbous, pustule, globulous, geranium, megalomaniac and 521 more...
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cross words
the good ole boys of the nyt crossword puzzle
oleo, oreo, stlo, amie, ares, eros, erato, sloe, ogee, apse, enola, ecru and 94 more...
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word tank
a couple words
logolepsy, nefarious, quintessential, tintinnabulation, serendipity, rhapsody, palimpsest, panoply, mellifluous, imbue, loquacious, garrulous and 174 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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elvesoncrack's Words
lachrymose, blustering, fjord, chihuahua, chiffon, catalytic, stile, gefilte, prosh, thwart, ralph, ickle and 379 more...
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The braggadocio recipe
A selection of English* words ending with a vowel (except "y", "ea", ie", "ee", "oo", "ea", "ou") that is REALLY pronounced.
My favorite English words, by the way.
The good twin of The ...braggadocio, recipe, encyclopedia, solo, gnu, flu, maybe, apocope, mini, arrhythmia, folio, stereo and 197 more...
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Spelling Bee list 2011
Abalone, ablution, absolution, aboriginally, abstemious, academician, acclamation, accommodation, acculturation, acetic, acetone, acme and 590 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for guru.
lweber5@scf.edu The elder senator was her political guru. -Websters Dictionary pg.35 Sep 23, 2010
jpage Guru comes from the Sanskrit 'gu' and 'ru'. 'Gu' stands for darkness, and 'ru' for its removal, which gives the word its salient meaning: Guru=remover of darkness; dispeller of ignorance. Dec 7, 2009