Nair
Americannoun
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a group of Hindu castes in the Kerala region of India.
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a member of any one of these castes.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
Over its 11 seasons, “Grantchester” has featured three vicars, with the latest and last, Alphy Kottaram, played by Rishi Nair.
From Salon ● Jun. 16, 2026
Analyst Vignesh Nair switches preference to Meridian Energy, noting its earnings growth leads the sector.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
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
Glanville even tried using Nair, the hair-removal product, to fight the parasite.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026
“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
A mutual friend made the introductions between the Nairs and the Maccionis, and Le Cirque Delhi was born.
From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2011
The Nairs are described as being the handsomest people in the world; the men being tall, sinewy and extraordinarily agile, while the women are slender and graceful, with perfectly modeled figures.
From Religion and Lust or, The Psychical Correlation of Religious Emotion and Sexual Desire by Weir, James
The people here are Malabars, of the race of the Nairs of Calicut, who differ much from the other Malabars.
From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 07 by Kerr, Robert
Political Justice; finish the Nairs; pack up and go to our lodgings in Somers Town.
From The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Volume I (of 2) by Marshall, Florence A. Thomas
The author of the "Spirit of Laws" asserts, that in the caste of Nairs, on the coast of Malabar, a man can have only one wife, while a woman may have several husbands.
From A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 10 (of 10) From "The Works of Voltaire - A Contemporary Version" by Fran?ois-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire)
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.
