What does "dalit" mean?

A member of a South Asian group of people traditionally regarded as untouchables or outcastes.

What is a synonym for "dalit"?

Common synonyms include: harijan, outcaste, outcaste, untouchable.

//ˈdɑːlɪt// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A member of a South Asian group of people traditionally regarded as untouchables or outcastes.
"Jogendra Nath Mandal was the first leader to fight for a further identity of the Dalits, holding that they were neither Hindus nor Muslims."

""You're an emotional dalit!" "An emotional what?""

Borrowed from Marathi दलित (dalit, “oppressed”), from Sanskrit दलित (dalita, “broken, destroyed”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.