qui-hi
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Hindi कोई है (koī hai, “is anyone there?”).
Interjection[edit]
- (India, historical) An Anglo-Indian call for a servant.
- 1922, Edward Frederic Benson, Miss Mapp, Chapter 1:
- That he had seen service in India was, indeed, probable by his referring to lunch as tiffin, and calling to his parlourmaid with the ejaculation of “Qui-hi.”
Noun[edit]
- (India, historical, colloquial) An Anglo-Indian in Bengal.
- 1879, Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York, page 107:
- […] would find themselves at Galle regarded as interlopers by the Bengal "qui-his," as they are called, or high and mighty Anglo-Indians.
- 1968, Demetrius Charles de Kavanagh Boulger, Asian Review, page 134:
- The slang distinctive name for gentlemen belonging to the Bombay service; the correlative of the Mulls of Madras and the Qui-His of Bengal.