Gunga Din

noun

A water carrier (person employed to carry water).

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Meanings

nounGunga Din (plural Gunga Dins)

plural Gunga Dins

  1. datedslanggovernmentA water carrier (person employed to carry water).
  2. ironicsometimesA person who selflessly serves another.

Origin

From an 1890 poem by Rudyard Kipling about an Indian water-carrier, Gunga Din, who saves a wounded soldier before being killed, remembered for its closing line: "You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din."

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Cite this entry
APA

Gunga Din. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Gunga%20Din

MLA

“Gunga Din.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Gunga%20Din. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Gunga Din,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Gunga%20Din.

Source: Gunga Din on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.