A horse-drawn cab or carriage used in India, similar to a taxi, for public transportation in cities and towns.
From Hindi gharī, possibly derived from Sanskrit ghaṭikā meaning 'cart' or 'chariot.' The word entered English in the 18th-19th centuries as British colonizers in India adopted the local term for this common mode of transport.
The gharri was India's answer to the London hackney cab—for centuries it was the primary urban transportation, and the word became so established in Indian English that it survived even as motorized taxis appeared. Some still use 'gharri' for auto-rickshaws today!
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