A messenger or office attendant in India who carries official documents and performs errands for government officials or businesses.
From Hindi चपरासी (chaprāsī), derived from Persian چپراسی (chaprassi), which comes from چپرا (chapra) meaning 'plank' or 'board' (referring to a badge of office worn by messengers). The word entered English during the British Raj in India.
The chaprassi became iconic in colonial India as the visible face of bureaucracy—immortalized in countless 19th-century photographs and literature as the middle figure between officials and the public, making this a word that perfectly captures a moment in global administrative history.
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