moonshi

M3O1O1N1S1H4I1

A form of munshi — A clerk or secretary.

Scrabble 12

Meanings

nounmoonshi (plural moonshis)

plural moonshis

  1. archaicArchaic spelling of munshi.

    Several of us, at one time or another, engaged "moonshis" or teachers, and tried to learn Hindustani, in which language, with one exception I think, none of us became very proficient.

    1875 April, [John Arthur Bayley], chapter IV, in Reminiscences of School and Army Life, 1839 to 1859, [London?]: [Privately printed; s.n.], →OCLC, pages 54–55
    1 more example

    Whoever has memory to retain what he hears, and who ſpeaks ſo intelligibly that no doubt of his meaning ariſes in his audience, and who is a man of good actions, [...] ſuch perſon the magiſtrate ſhall conſtitute his Leekhuk or Moonſhi, and writer.

    1777 September, “A Code of Gentoo Laws, or Ordinations of the Pundits, from a Persian Translation, Made from the Original, Written in the Shanscrit Language. 4to. London, 1776.—Printed at the Expence of the East India Company, and Not to be Purchased.”, in The Critical Review: Or, Annals of Literature (Series the Fifth), volume XLIV, London: Printed for A. Hamilton, […], →OCLC, page 182

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

“moonshi.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/moonshi. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “moonshi,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/moonshi.

Source: moonshi on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.