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Nair

American

[nahyer, nahy-er] / naɪər, ˈnaɪ ər /

Also Nayer

noun

plural

Nair, Nairs

a group of Hindu castes in the Kerala region of India.
a member of any one of these castes.

adjective

of or relating to this group of castes or their members.

Etymology

Origin of Nair

1580–85; < Portuguese naire < Malayalam nāyar members of ruling caste < Sanskrit nāya to lead

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It was a direct nod to Mamdani himself, whose mother, Mira Nair, is a Punjabi Hindu woman from India.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 21, 2026

And he didn’t exactly come from nowhere; he’s the son of filmmaker Mira Nair and is open about having been raised in privilege.

From Salon • Feb. 23, 2026

"The key innovation in the biosynthesis of tagatose was in finding the slime mold Gal1P enzyme and splicing it into our production bacteria," said Nair.

From Science Daily • Jan. 13, 2026

His mother, filmmaker Mira Nair, is well-known there.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 19, 2025

Hello, namaste, buenos dias, and bonjour, Mira Nair!

From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023