gymkhana

/d͡ʒɪmˈkɑnə/

Etymology

From Hindustani گیند خانہ (gendxānā) / गेंदख़ाना (gendxānā, “racquet court”), from گیند / गेंद (gend, “ball”) + خانہ / ख़ाना (xānā, “court”). Influenced by gymnastics and gymnasium.

gymkhana means A competition where riders and horses display a range of skills and aptitudes. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 90 out of 100.

Why this word is great

GYMKHANA — [Noun] A competition, especially equestrian or motoring, involving the timed execution of precision maneuvers through a complex course. From Hindustani گیند خانہ / गेंदख़ाना (gendxānā, "ball court"), from گیند / गेंद (gend, "ball") + خانہ / ख़ाना (xānā, "house, court"), later influenced by the English words gymnastics and gymnasium. Unlike a rally, an epic of endurance across landscapes, or a tournament, a protracted chivalric series for a crown, a gymkhana is a compressed sonnet of skill. It is the percussive pivot of hooves around a flagged cone, the calculated drift of a car through a water-slicked slalom, and the coiled tension of a horse between flag-marked barrels—a fleeting, formal proof of control carved out against the relentless drag of entropy.

noun

A competition where riders and horses display a range of skills and aptitudes.“In the afternoon the British held athletic sports, an impromptu military tournament, and a gymkhana, all of which caused much merriment and diversion, and the Boers profited by the cessation of the shell fire to shovel away at their trenches.”
A place of public resort for athletic games, etc.“These privileged gentlemen have a fine club on the Fateh Maidan, a suburb of Hyderabad city, and they enjoy sports and races at the local gymkhana, in fact, they have a very good time, if one may judge by their appearance.”
A meeting for such sports.
Synonym of motorkhana.
Any event, situation, etc., with a broad array of elements.“There was argument, public, private, and bar-parlor, with heated championship of one term or another on near-scientific, quasi-etymological, and a number of other grounds, but gradually one term began to dominate this philological gymkhana.”