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Added 9 October 2026

guru

/ˈɡʊɹuː/ noun

In Latin: gurus Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about guru at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A Hindu or Buddhist religious leader and spiritual teacher.
Each of the first ten leaders of the Sikh religion.
A recognized leader in some field or of some movement.
a guru of genomics

Origin

Borrowed from Hindi गुरु (guru) / Punjabi ਗੁਰੂ (gurū), from Sanskrit गुरु (guru, “venerable, respectable”), originally "heavy" and in this sense cognate to English grieve and, more distantly, brute. Doublet of grave. A traditional, though flawed etymology based on the Advayataraka Upanishad (line 16) describes the syllables gu as “darkness” and ru as “destroyer”, thus ascribing the meaning of “one who destroys/dispels darkness” to the word.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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