Meanings
- IndiaPakistanuncountableA form of debt bondage where an advance loan by the employer is to be repaid by bonded labour
The bonded labour system uses ‘peshgi’, a vernacular for an advance, to bind those in destitution to a life of servitude through a seemingly voluntary contract.
2017, Syed Abbas Ahsan, “Bonded Labour in Pakistan – Impact, Challenges and Role of Government”, in Social Science Research Network, page ii2 more examples
By drawing on an analysis of the football-stitching and bangle-making industries it disputes the notion that the presence of peshgi inevitably leads to a relationship of debt bondage between employer and workers.
2010, Ali Khan, “Peshgi Without Bondage: Reconsidering the Links between Debt and Bonded Labour”, in Cultural Dynamics, volume 22, number 3Peshgi is a system where the employer pays the prospective labourer a loan, which obliges the labourer to work for the employer for a period of time until the loan peshgi is repaid.
2019, Dr Fraser Murray, Samanthi Theminimulle, Nida Mustaq, Shehryar Fazli, Modern Slavery in Pakistan: Final Report, page 8
Origin
- Hindustani
- Englishpeshgi
Borrowed from Hindustani पेशगी (peśgī) / پیشْگی (peśgī, “advance”).
More words from Hindustani
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
peshgi. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/peshgi
“peshgi.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/peshgi. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “peshgi,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/peshgi.
Source: peshgi on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.