Punjab

American  

[puhn-jahb, puhn-jahb] / pʌnˈdʒɑb, ˈpʌn dʒɑb /

noun

1. a former province in NW British India: now divided between India and Pakistan.

2. a state in NW India. 47,456 sq. mi. (122,911 sq. km). Chandigarh.

3. a province in NE Pakistan. 19,445 sq. mi. (50,362 sq. km). Lahore.

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Punjab British  

/ pʌnˈdʒɑːb, ˈpʌndʒɑːb /

noun

1. (formerly) a province in NW British India: divided between India and Pakistan in 1947

2. a state of NW India: reorganized in 1966 as a Punjabi-speaking state, a large part forming the new state of Haryana; mainly agricultural. Capital: Chandigarh. Pop: 24 289 296 (2001). Area: 50 255 sq km (19 403 sq miles)

3. a province of W Pakistan: created in 1947. Capital: Lahore. Pop: 82 710 000 (2003 est). Area: 205 344 sq km (127 595 sq miles)

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Etymology

Origin of Punjab

First recorded in 1830–35; from Hindi, Urdu Panjāb, from Persian panj âb, literally “(land of) five waters, five rivers” (the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas, tributaries of the Indus)

Example Sentences

Saqib wears a locket shaped like a map of pre-partition Punjab around his neck and plans to visit Lahore.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 21, 2026

The Punjab government intervened in March 2025, when it said the number of cases was 106.

From BBC • Apr. 13, 2026

That same conversation, in different languages about different crops, is being replicated from the Punjab in India to Italy’s Po Valley and Brazil’s Cerrado.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026

Rana was an engineering student at Punjab University in Chandigarh when he fell from the fourth-flour balcony of his paying guest accommodation.

From BBC • Mar. 11, 2026

Colonel Arbuthnot talked of the Punjab, and occasionally asked the girl a few questions about Baghdad where it became clear that she had been in a post as governess.

From "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie