| 释义 |
▪ I. desi
obs. form of dizzy a.
▪ II. desi, a. and n. S. Asian (chiefly Indian English).
Brit. |ˈdeɪsi|, |ˈdɛsi|, U.S. |ˈdeɪsi|, |ˈdɛsi|
Forms: 18– desi, 18– deshi
[In senses A. 1 and B. 1 ‹ Hindi desī indigenous, rural, from the country, person or thing from the country, desī- (in compounds) regional, ultimately ‹ Sanskrit deśīya from or peculiar to the or a country, provincial, native. In senses A. 2 and B. 2 directly ‹ Sanskrit deśī provincial usage, local style of singing, dance, etc.
The Hindi form occurs earlier in an English context in the following:
1886H. Yule & A. C. Burnell Hobson-Jobson 266/2 The term, as well as the H. desī, of which country is a translation, is also especially used for things grown or made in India as substitutes for certain foreign articles. ]
A. adj.
1. Esp. of cotton: local, indigenous, native. Also in extended use (derogatory): rustic, unsophisticated.
1885G. C. Whitworth Anglo-Indian Dict. 82/1 Deshi.., native, belonging to the country, local. Often used in contradistinction to Viláyati. 1893R. Kipling Many Inventions 135 And you'll eat desi food, and like it all, from the smell in the courtyard to the mustard oil over you. 1919Rep. Progress Agric. in India 1917–18 v. 182 Experiments with crossing the ordinary desi cow of good stamp with the Hissar, Sahiwal and Kosi strains are in progress. 1950T. M. Desai in C. N. Vakil Stud. Econ. India & Pakistan vii. 258 As the entire cotton tract in this district is irrigated, it would be feasible to replace the production of desi cotton by that of 4F. 1983India Today 30 June 68/2 A Westernised Fabian Socialist whose contempt for businessmen, particularly those of the desi variety, was well known. 2003Snoop Jan.–Feb. 38/2 She has sideburns: A very desi trait, no matter how much make-up she wears—you can still see her Elvises showing through.
2. Of Indian music, dance, or theatre: indigenous, belonging to the folk tradition (as opposed to the immutable corpus of classical and pre-classical forms).
1958Jrnl. Amer. Folklore 71 377 In the classical dance..there are deśī styles. 1996Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 116607/2 The contents of the tāla canto include the following:..the mārga and deśī tāla patterns, and techniques of permutations. 2000Hindu (Nexis) 29 Dec. The Marga and Desi aspects of the art. 2004Dazed & Confused Feb. 32 Panjabi Hit Squad have spent the last ten years championing the sounds of desi beats; a blend of traditional Indian instrumentation and hip hop that has made both the British and American charts stand up and take notice.
B. n.
1. An indigenous person or thing. Also (derogatory): an unsophisticated person.
In quot. 1907: a particular strain of Indian cotton.
1907G. Watt Wild & Cultivated Cotton Plants of World 132 Bani..is known in Behar as jethi or desi. 1972M. J. Leaf Info. & Behaviour in Sikh Village iii. 37 In a heavy monsoon, the American cotton benefits, while the desi may be destroyed by rains that continue while the bolls open. 1993S. Ramaya Beloved Mother, Queen of Night 81 He's the best shot, and the best scout. He can smell sahibs a mile away. Indeed, he can even tell you, just by sniffing the air, how many sahibs and how many desis. 2000K. Shamsie Salt & Saffron xxi. 220 ‘Do you know any Pakistanis in Greece?’ ‘Oh yes. There are desis in every corner of the globe.’
2. In Indian music, dance, theatre, etc.: local or folk styles that are still to a certain extent variable and developing (as opposed to the immutable corpus of classical and pre-classical forms).
Freq. contrasted with marga n. 2.
1956Far Eastern Q. 15 504 They formulated the differentiation between mārga and deśī, roughly a distinction between classic and folk. 1980New Grove Dict. Music IX. 147/2 The Bṛhad-deśī..contrasted deśi—indigenous folk music..not observing rules of intervals, scales and melody mould—with mārga. 2000S. Broughton & M. Ellingham World Music: Rough Guide II. i. 94/2 Folk music in India is often described as desi (or deshi). Desi, a catch-all term, also embraces folk theatre and popular music of many colours. |