harijan

(har′i jən, hu′ri-; -jan′)

noun

in India, an untouchable or, later, a member of the Scheduled Castes

See harijan in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun pl. Harijan or Har·i·jans

An Untouchable.

Origin:

Origin: Sanskrit harijanaḥ, person of Hari, child of God (coined as a euphemism for Untouchable by Mohandas K. Gandhi in 1931)

Origin: : Hariḥ, Hari, a name for Vishnu; see Hare Krishna

Origin: + janaḥ, person, child; see genə- in Indo-European roots

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