patel

See also: Patel

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Gujarati પટેલ (paṭel, “village headman”), which is from Sanskrit पट्टकिल (paṭṭakila).

Noun

patel (plural patels)

1. (India, historical) A village head man.
   • 1892, Baden Henry Baden-Powell, The Land Systems of British India (book 3, page 464)

     In the troublous times which followed 1804, when the Maráthá power was waning, and every district almost was a scene of struggle for the supremacy, the patels everywhere came forward and boldly protected the villages, […]

Alternative forms

• patail, patell, pattel, potail

References

• Henry Yule, A[rthur] C[oke] Burnell (1903) “patel”, in William Crooke, editor, Hobson-Jobson […] , London: John Murray, […].