zamindari

or zem·in·da·ry

[ zam-in-dahr-ee, zem-, zuh-meen- ]

noun

, plural zam·in·da·ris.

1. (in British India) the system of landholding and tax collection by zamindars.
2. (in British India) the office or territory held or administered by a zamindar.
3. (in Mogul India) the system of collecting farm revenue, a fixed sum based on the assigned district.

zamindari

/ zəmiːnˈdɑːrɪ /

noun

1. (in India) a large agricultural estate

Word History and Origins

Origin of zamindari¹

First recorded in 1740–50; from Hindi or Urdu zamīndārī, from Persian zamīndārī, a derivative of zamīndār, equivalent of zamīn “land, ground”+ -dār a combining form meaning “holder” + -i noun suffix

Example Sentences

In “Street Singers of Lucknow and Other Stories,” the table of contents deftly traverses Bombay neighborhoods, grand Lucknow zamindari estates and serene tea gardens in what is now Bangladesh.

From New York Times

Banished in India was zamindari*: 1.

From Time Magazine Archive

After independence, the new government took over the princely states and abolished the zamindari.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the state of Uttar Pradesh it was Deliverance Day, the day that marked the end of zamindari, a system of tax collecting which has held most of India's plain people in thrall since the Middle Ages.

From Time Magazine Archive

For 30 years the Congress Party of Prime Minister Nehru has cried for the abolition of zamindari, but India's constitution leaves land reform to the individual states.

From Time Magazine Archive