Meanings
basti1
plural bastis · alternative bustee
- IndiaNorthA slum.
There is a dreary bustee in the neighbourhood which is said to make the most of any cholera that may be going.
1891, Rudyard Kipling, The City Of Dreadful Night2 more examples
With the population growth in the jhopadpattis, favelas, bastis and bidonvilles higher than any other environment in the world, we are seeing the emergence of Megaslums, where one million urban poor live in an area measuring just 1.5 square miles.
2012, Sarwant Singh, New Mega Trends: Implications for Our Future Lives, page 63Her mother-in-law, in her half-delirious state, was sure that their basti would be broken down and had aggressively begun to push her sons to buy a plot of land elsewhere.
2023, Radhika Iyengar, Fire on the Ganges, Fourth Estate, page 294
Basti2
- A city, district, and division of Uttar Pradesh, India.
Origin
basti · noun
- Hindiबस्ती
- Hindiबस्ती
- Englishbasti
Borrowed from Hindi बस्ती (bastī, “settlement”).
More words from Hindi
Full word history & related roots →Basti · proper noun
- Hindiबस्ती
- EnglishBasti
Borrowed from Hindi बस्ती (bastī).
More words from Hindi
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
basti. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/basti
“basti.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/basti. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “basti,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/basti.
Source: basti on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.