nautch girl
1
9.9
- noun
- Archaic
:
bailarina nautch
- The novel describes the life of a nautch girl in nineteenth-century India.
Examples
-
During the festival, a famous nautch girl performed classical dances for the audience.
-
The nautch girl captivated the audience with her graceful movements.
-
Colonial officers often hired a nautch girl to entertain guests at formal events.
-
During the party, a nautch girl performed traditional dances.
-
During the celebration, the audience watched a talented nautch girl perform intricate dance moves.
-
The nautch girls entertained the guests with traditional songs and elaborate dances at the royal banquet.
-
In many historical accounts, the nautch girl was admired for her captivating performances at social gatherings.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'nautch' denotes a specific traditional dance and 'girl' denotes a female person, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer it refers to a woman who performs nautch dances. While the term is historically and culturally specific (colonial/Indian), the dance+woman construction is a common, predictable pattern across languages, supporting transparency.
Etymology
Nautch girl comes from the Hindi word nautch, from the word 'naach' meaning 'dance', and the English word girl, so it pictures a woman who danced to entertain people. When the British were in India they used the name for women who were paid to dance at parties, so today it means 'a female professional dancer in India'.