manji

See also: Manji and mânji

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Hindi माँझी (māñjhī, “boatman, sailor”).

Alternative forms

• mangee, manjee

Noun

manji (plural manjis)

1. (British India) A captain or skipper of a boat. [from 17th–19th c.]
   • 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, page 361:

     I prevailed upon the mangee of a pinnace I found laying in the creek, awaiting the arrival of a gentleman hourly expected from Vizagapatam, to convey us up the river as far as Budge Budge […] .

Etymology 2

From a form of Punjabi ਮੰਜਾ (mañjā, “raised bed”). The Sikh sense is based on their use as seats of authority.

Noun

manji (plural manjis)

1. A type of raised bed similar to a cot from South Asia.
   • 1990, W. H. McLeod, Textual Sources for the Study of Sikhism, page 152:

     Literally, 'He sat on a manji.' The manji is a small string bed. In the villages of the Punjab acknowledged leaders, spiritual and temporal, would commonly receive their followers seated on a manji.

   • 2005, W. Owen Cole, Piara Singh Sambhi, A Popular Dictionary of Sikhism: Sikh Religion and Philosophy:

     The significance of a manji lies in its use as the seat of a person in authority, other people sitting on the ground.

   • 2011, Rocky Singh, Mayur Sharma, Highway on my Plate: The indian guide to roadside eating, Random House India, →ISBN:

     There is even a tap to bathe under after you have spent a night sleeping on the manjis (beds), and all this comes at the price of a meal!

   • 2015, Shauna Singh Baldwin, What the Body Remembers:

     Roop doesn't want to sleep on a mat on the floor; she wants to sleep with Lajo Bhua on a manji, wants Lajo Bhua to tell her stories till she falls asleep.

2. (Sikhism) A Sikh religious administrative unit.
   • 1993, Sunita Puri, Advent of Sikh Religion: A Socio-political Perspective, page 155:

     In the Janam Sakhis and utterances of Guru Nanak there is no reference, implicit or explicit, to the subject of manjis.

Derived terms

• manji sahib/Manji Sahib

Etymology 3

A manji.

Transliteration of Japanese 卍 (manji).

Noun

manji (plural manjis)

1. (Buddhism) A left-facing Japanese swastika, primarily used in Buddhism.

Embu

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *màjíjɪ̀.

Noun

manji

1. water

References

• Ciarunji Chesaina, Oral Literature of the Embu and Mbeere (1997, →ISBN

Japanese

Romanization

manji

1. Rōmaji transcription of まんじ

Ngoni

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *màjíjɪ̀.

Noun

manji

1. water

Serbo-Croatian

Adjective

manji (Cyrillic spelling мањи)

1. comparative degree of malen