Dalit
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Da·lit
(dä′lĭt)n.
A member of the lowest class in traditional Indian society, falling altogether outside the Hindu caste categories and subject to extensive social restrictions.
[Hindi dalit, crushed, oppressed, from Sanskrit dalita-, past passive participle of dalayati, to cause to burst, variant of darayati, he splits, derived form (probably a denominative of -daraḥ, smasher, as in puraṃdaraḥ, citadel-smasher, an epithet of Indra) of darati, he splits; see der- in Indo-European roots.]
Da′lit adj.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Dalit
(ˈdɑːlɪt)n
(Hinduism) a member of the lowest class in India, whom those of the four main castes were formerly forbidden to touch. Formerly called (offensive): untouchable
[from Hindi, from Sanskrit dalita, literally: oppressed]
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