A term used in British India for a Hindu clerk, official, or educated Indian man; often used with connotations of inferiority or cultural contempt.
From Hindi/Urdu 'bābū' (meaning 'father,' 'master,' or 'clerk'), borrowed by English colonizers in India. The term acquired pejorative undertones in British colonial usage.
The word 'baboo' reveals the racism embedded in colonial language—what started as a respectful Hindi term for a person of status became English-speakers' dismissive label for Indian professionals, showing how power shapes vocabulary.
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