Meaning & use
Anglo-Indian
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A member of a community of mixed British and Indian ancestry that grew up in India during British rule.
Grammar: Capitalized: an Anglo-Indian, the Anglo-Indians.
Patterns
- an Anglo-Indian family
Her grandfather was an Anglo-Indian who worked on the railways.
Many Anglo-Indians later moved to Britain or Australia.
The Anglo-Indians developed a distinctive cuisine.
adjectivebefore a noun
Connected with the Anglo-Indian community, or with the shared history of Britain and India.
Grammar: Always capitalized and used before a noun: Anglo-Indian cooking.
Patterns
- Anglo-Indian cuisine
- Anglo-Indian history
She grew up in an Anglo-Indian household in Kolkata.
Anglo-Indian cooking mixes English and Indian ideas.
The novel explores Anglo-Indian life in the 1930s.
Word forms
| plural | Anglo-Indians |
|---|
Common combinations
- Anglo-Indian community
- The Anglo-Indian community kept its own schools.
- Anglo-Indian cuisine
- Mulligatawny soup is often linked with Anglo-Indian cuisine.
- Anglo-Indian family
- They came from an Anglo-Indian family in Chennai.
- Anglo-Indian heritage
- He is proud of his Anglo-Indian heritage.
Synonyms and how they differ
- Eurasian
- Eurasian is broader, covering mixed European and Asian descent in any country.
- Indo-British
- Indo-British is a descriptive term and not the established community name.
- mixed-heritage
- Mixed-heritage is a general term and does not point to a specific historical community.
Word family
- Anglo noun
- a prefix-like word relating to England or Britain
- Anglophile noun
- a person who admires England or its culture
- Indian adjective
- relating to India
Commonly confused: Anglo-Indian or Indian British?
Anglo-Indian vs Indian British
Indian British describes British citizens of Indian descent today, while Anglo-Indian names a community that arose during British rule.
Practice
Which person is best described as Anglo-Indian?
Choose one answer.
Anglo-Indian names the community of mixed British and Indian descent from colonial India. Visiting or having ties to both countries is not enough.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Anglo-Indian”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.