kurta

American  

[kur-tuh] / ˈkɜr tə /

Or khurta

noun

1. a long-sleeved, hip-length shirt worn by men in India.

2. a sleeveless shirt worn over or under the angiya by Muslim women in India.

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kurta British  

/ ˈkʊətə /

noun

1. a long loose garment like a shirt without a collar worn in India

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Etymology

Origin of kurta

Borrowed into English from Hindi around 1910–15

Explanation

A kurta is a long, loose shirt commonly worn in South Asia. In Indian cities, it's very common for both men and women to wear kurtas with jeans. A kurta is a kind of tunic, or long, collarless top. In various South Asian countries, kurtas are worn with loose trousers called shalwars or tighter pants known as churidars. Lightweight summer kurtas are made of cotton and silk, and in winter people often wear heavier wool kurtas. The word comes from Urdu, and its Persian root is kurtah, "a collarless shirt."

Example Sentences

Off stage, Roy notes, he dressed like any other Bengali man in kurta and pyjamas.

From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026

He wore a traditional knee-length shirt called a kurta and slippers that dramatically curl at the toes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 8, 2025

He was wearing a silken Indian kurta, a traditional shirt, the same one he had worn 20 years earlier at one of our pre-wedding functions.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 23, 2022

“We’ve wanted to do a kurta on the red carpet for a while,” she said.

From New York Times • Dec. 15, 2021

She’d been dressed in a kurta top, which he liked.

From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon