Nair
Americannoun
plural
Nair, Nairs-
a group of Hindu castes in the Kerala region of India.
-
a member of any one of these castes.
adjective
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.
An Indian national, Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, 47, who worked for both companies as technical superintendent for the ship, the M/V Dali, is also named in the indictment unsealed on Tuesday.
From Barron's • May 12, 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
Glanville even tried using Nair, the hair-removal product, to fight the parasite.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 19, 2026
His mother is the filmmaker Mira Nair, and his father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a professor at Columbia University.
From BBC • Dec. 8, 2025
“I know. Anyway, I’m done talking about all that. Let’s see if we can find a Mira Nair movie on the Hindi channel.”
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
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
