Punjabi
Americannoun
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Punjabis
plural
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a native or inhabitant of the Punjab.
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an Indic language of the Punjab.
adjective
noun
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a member of the chief people of the Punjab
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the state language of the Punjab, belonging to the Indic branch of the Indo-European family
adjective
Usage
What does Punjabi mean? A Punjabi is a person who is from or lives in Punjab, a former UK province. Punjabi is also the language spoken by the people of Punjab. Punjab was a province of British India until 1947. In that year, the province was split between the Asian countries of India and Pakistan. The majority of the former Punjab is now located in Pakistan, as the eastern province of Punjab. The rest of the land makes up the northwestern Indian state of Punjab. According to the 2011 Indian Census, just over 33 million speakers of Punjabi lived in India. It was the 11th most popular language in the country at that time, with 2. 7 percent of the country speaking it. According to the CIA Factbook, Punjabis are the largest ethnic group in Pakistan, making up 44. 7 percent of the population, and the Punjabi language is spoken by 48 percent of the country.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Punjabi
First recorded in 1780–90; Punjab + -ī a suffix indicating relationship or origin
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.
See Examples For:
Recordings, paintings, manuscripts and more reveal how songs in Persian, Urdu, Classical Hindi and Punjabi spread throughout the Mughal Empire and across the network of the East India Company from the 16th century onward.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
Deadly accidents in Florida and San Bernardino County last year brought scrutiny to Sikh Punjabi truck drivers, who make up an estimated 20% of the U.S. trucking workforce.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026
Sixty years after Nirmala waited a week to hear one Hindi song, her grandson Krish scrolls through Punjabi music on his phone in seconds.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
She loved the fusion artists like Jay Sean blending R&B, Punjabi, Hindi and English into something that felt exactly like her life.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
The Punjabi boy at the other end of the room stirred in his sleep and moaned something.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
For Punjabis who grew up abroad, music is also an important medium to reflect on their identity.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2023
In Bakersfield, California, she meets a community of Punjabis who have opened a roadside truck stop, and others who are almond farmers and processors.
From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2023
Today there are more than 100,000 Punjabis living in California and as many as 500,000 nationwide.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 2, 2023
The army’s ranks were dominated by ethnic Punjabis and Pashtuns, leaving Gen. Musharraf an outsider even among top officers.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 5, 2023
We paraded at 10.45 and marched to the station, with the Punjabis band leading us.
From Letters from Mesopotamia in 1915 and January, 1916, from Robert Palmer, who was killed in the Battle of Um El Hannah, June 21, 1916, aged 27 years by Robert Stafford Arthur Palmer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
