Calcutta

American  

[kal-kuht-uh] / kælˈkʌt ə /

noun

1. former name of Kolkata (but sometimes still used).

2. Also called Calcutta pool.  (sometimes lowercase) a form of betting pool for a competition or tournament, as golf or auto racing, in which gamblers bid for participating contestants in an auction, the proceeds from which are put into a pool for distribution, according to a prearranged scale of percentages, to those who selected winners.

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Calcutta British  

/ kælˈkʌtə /

noun

1. the former official name (still widely used) of Kolkata

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Calcutta Cultural  

1. Largest city in India, located in the eastern part of the country on the Hooghly River.

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Calcutta is one of the largest cities in the world and suffers from poverty, overcrowding, and unemployment.

Example Sentences

A gifted athlete, he became the first Indian to win the Macklin Sculls - a prestigious single sculling race - at the Calcutta Lake Club in 1938.

From BBC • Apr. 17, 2026

On the road to this point, he has lost a few warriors - Jamie Ritchie and Jamie Dobie after the Calcutta Cup and now Scott Cummings and Gregor Brown, too.

From BBC • Mar. 10, 2026

Australia-born centre Tuipulotu believes it might have been someone else lifting the Calcutta Cup in Edinburgh had not Tandy brought him encouraged him to open up.

From Barron's • Feb. 20, 2026

To pinpoint the protective trait, researchers crossed Calcutta 4 with susceptible bananas from another diploid subspecies.

From Science Daily • Feb. 19, 2026

Various cities had been circled with lines drawn between them to indicate my parents’ travels, and the place of their birth, Calcutta, was signified by a small silver star.

From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri