A European trader, merchant, or foreigner, especially one involved in commerce in India during the colonial period.
From Portuguese 'firangui' or Hindi 'firangi', ultimately derived from 'Frank' (Frankish/European). This word traveled through trade routes and languages as Europeans expanded commerce in Asia, becoming the label Indians used for foreign merchants.
This word is a linguistic fossil of the age of exploration—when Indians saw European traders arriving by ship, they called them by a term that originally meant 'Frank,' showing how trade connected languages and cultures across oceans.
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