khitmatgar

• khidmatgar, khidmutgar, kitmagar, khitmagar

From Urdu خدمتگار‎ (xidmatgār) / Hindi ख़िदमतगार (xidmatgār), from Persian خدمتگار‎ (xedmatgâr).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɪdmətɡɑː/

khitmatgar (plural khitmatgars)

1. (India) A male servant, with responsibility for waiting at table.
   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘The Arrest of Lieutenant Golightly’, Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio 2005, p. 94:

     He did not know then that his khitmatgar had stopped by the roadside to get drunk, and would come on the next day saying that he had sprained his ankle.

   • 1983, Lawrence Durrell, Sebastian, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p. 1108:

     ‘The Ambassador to Bangalore appeared before me dressed in the robes of a khitmagar or majordomo.’