mudaliyar

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noun

A chief or headman in Sri Lanka.

OriginTamil முதலியார் ← Portuguese modeliar →
First used 17th c.Scrabble 15
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Meanings

nounmudaliyar (plural mudaliyars)

plural mudaliyars · alternative mudaliar · alternative mudliyar

  1. historicalA chief or headman in Sri Lanka.First known use 17th c.

    He had been a Mudaliyar or Headman of East Giruwa Pattu […] when I was Assistant Government Agent there fifty years ago.

    1969, Leonard Woolf, Journey Not Arrival Matters
    1 more example

    Other Mudliyars said they couldn't join in the first instance but would send on ‘Thieves and rogues (black guard fellows who certainly do abound).’

    2020, Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South, William Collins, published 2021, page 228
  2. A Tamil caste in India.First known use 19th c.

Origin

  1. Portuguesemodeliar
  2. Tamilமுதலியார்
  3. Englishmudaliyar

From Tamil முதலியார் (mutaliyār) (plural of முதலி (mutali, “chief”)), in early forms probably via Portuguese modeliar.

More words from Tamil, Portuguese

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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