Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to Bengal or its people, language, or culture.
  • noun A native or inhabitant of Bengal.
  • noun A person of Bengali ancestry.
  • noun The modern Indic language of Bangladesh and West Bengal, a state of eastern India.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or pertaining to Bengal, its inhabitants, or their language; Bengalese.
  • noun A native or an inhabitant of Bengal; a Bengalese.
  • noun The language of the Bengalis.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to the Bengali language.
  • adjective Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Bangladesh (formerly Bengal) or its inhabitants.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of, from or pertaining to Bengal
  • noun A person from Bengal or of Bengali descent.
  • proper noun Language spoken in Bangladesh and the states of Tripura and West Bengal, India.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to or characteristic of Bengal or its people
  • noun an ethnic group speaking Bengali and living in Bangladesh and eastern India
  • noun (Hinduism) a member of a people living in Bangladesh and West Bengal (mainly Hindus)
  • noun a Magadhan language spoken by the Bengali people; the official language of Bangladesh and Bengal

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hindi बंगाली (bangālī).

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Examples

  • The new Korean indie film “Bandobhi” (“female friend” in Bengali) focuses on the issues currently faced by these so-called 3D foreign workers of Korea.

    Global Voices in English » Bangladesh, South Korea: Bandhobi, Addressing Migrant Workers’ Issues 2009

  • Seeing ballet dancers perform to Rabindrasangeet, in Bengali, for an American audience was mind-blowing.

    Following Her Song Around the World Vibhuti Patel 2010

  • While she previously starred in four English-language films in both England and the United States in addition to her work in Hindi, Bengali and Tamil, Bachchan emphasized she is just being a good actress.

    Buzzine » Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Interview 2009

  • She would tell me of the special types of desserts, called pithey and puli in Bengali, the older womenfolk of the house prepared to celebrate sankranti.

    Celebrating Harvest 2006

  • She would tell me of the special types of desserts, called pithey and puli in Bengali, the older womenfolk of the house prepared to celebrate sankranti.

    Archive 2006-01-01 2006

  • Maybe next time you can show me how to build a toaster out of my Intellivision – with easy to read directions printed in Bengali?????? krinkle_man

    EXTRALIFE – By Scott Johnson - Build your own NES controller MP3 player 2005

  • Known as Ilish in Bengali, it is undoubtedly the king of fish in both Indian state of Bengal and the country of Bangladesh (which was a part of undivided, pre-independence India).

    Archive 2005-09-01 2005

  • Known as Ilish in Bengali, it is undoubtedly the king of fish in both Indian state of Bengal and the country of Bangladesh (which was a part of undivided, pre-independence India).

    Ilish Relish 2005

  • I was told Rajni is also fluent in Bengali and Urdu.

    Why are South Indians so smart? Steve Sailer 2002

  • The contrast between Tagore's commanding presence in Bengali literature and culture, and his near-total eclipse in the rest of the world, is perhaps less interesting than the distinction between the view of Tagore as a deeply relevant and many-sided contemporary thinker in Bangladesh and

    Tagore and His India 2001

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