baidya
|bai-dya|
/ˈbaɪdjə/
traditional Ayurvedic physician / Bengali caste of physicians
Etymology
'baidya' originates from Sanskrit, specifically the word 'vaidya', where 'vaidya' meant 'physician' or 'one skilled in medical knowledge'.
'baidya' changed from Sanskrit 'vaidya' into regional Prakrit and later Bengali forms (rendered as 'Baidya'), and the term became used both for practitioners and as a caste name in Bengal.
Initially, it meant 'physician' (a practitioner of medicine); over time it also came to denote a hereditary social group (a caste) traditionally associated with those medical roles.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a member of the Baidya caste in Bengal: a traditional Hindu community historically associated with Ayurvedic practice and scholarship.
Many families in that village are baidya and have long traditions of Ayurvedic study.
Synonyms
Noun 2
a traditional Ayurvedic practitioner (physician) — used for practitioners or historically for physicians trained in indigenous Indian medicine (from Sanskrit 'vaidya').
He consulted a baidya for herbal treatments and dietary advice.
Synonyms
Last updated: 2026/01/01 10:24