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tawaif. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Etymology
From Urdu طَوائِف (tavāif) / Hindi तवायफ़ (tavāyaf).
Noun
tawaif (plural tawaifs or tawaif)
- (South Asia, historical) A professional courtesan serving the nobility, especially under the Mughal Empire; (derogatory)
1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 11:‘The tawaif has graduated from mere singing to dancing.’
2008, Susan Dewey, Hollow Bodies, page 147:Characterized by its soft eroticism, mujra was performed by courtesans called tawaif who were an integral part of life in the Mughal court.
- 2008, Gayatri Chatterjee, in Sahni, Shankar, Apte (Eds.), Prostitution and Beyond, p. 290:
- And since the British period, the reputation of a common prostitute has dogged the heels of the tawaif.