Standard Lemma guide

swadeshi

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /swəˈdɛʃi/
  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /-ˈdeɪ-/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • India: /sʋəˈdeːʃi/
  • rhymes with -ɛʃi

1

noun

Meaning 1

A policy of nationalist self-sufficiency in India, involving the revival and promotion of domestic production and (originally) the boycott of British products.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: India, also, attributive, uncountable

Topics: economics, government, politics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Alternative letter-case form of swadeshi.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

PIE word *swé Borrowed from Hindi स्वदेशी (svadeśī, “nationalist, patriotic; policy of nationalist self-sufficiency, swadeshi; proponent of the swadeshi movement”), from स्वदेश (svadeś, “one’s own country”) + -ई (-ī, suffix forming adjectives, or forming nouns meaning a person who does an action indicated by the stem). स्वदेश is derived from Sanskrit स्वदेश (svadeśa), from स्व (sva, “his or her own”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“(pronoun) self”)) + देश (deśa, “country; point, place”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to point out”)).

Across languages

Translations

13 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bengali: স্বদেশী (śodeśi) — policy of nationalist self-sufficiency in India
  • Gujarati: સ્વદેશી (svadeśī) — policy of nationalist self-sufficiency in India
  • Hindi: स्वदेशी (svadeśī) — policy of nationalist self-sufficiency in India
  • Indonesian: swadesi — policy of nationalist self-sufficiency in India
  • Kannada: ಸ್ವದೇಶಿ (svadēśi) — policy of nationalist self-sufficiency in India
  • Malayalam: സ്വദേശി (svadēśi) — policy of nationalist self-sufficiency in India
  • Newar: चुतेचि (cuteci) — policy of nationalist self-sufficiency in India
  • Punjabi: ਸਵਦੇਸ਼ੀ (savdeśī) — policy of nationalist self-sufficiency in India
  • Punjabi: سودیشی (sodeśī) — policy of nationalist self-sufficiency in India
  • Sindhi: سوديشي (sodeśe) — policy of nationalist self-sufficiency in India
  • Tamil: சுதேசி (cutēci) — policy of nationalist self-sufficiency in India
  • Telugu: స్వదేశీ (svadēśī) — policy of nationalist self-sufficiency in India
  • Urdu: سودیشی (sodeśī) — policy of nationalist self-sufficiency in India