palanquin
/ˌpælənˈkin/
Etymology
From Portuguese palanquim (“Asian litter, litter-bearer”), from Odia ପାଲଙ୍କି (pālaṅki, “litter”), ultimately from Sanskrit पल्यङ्क (palyaṅka), variant of पर्यङ्क (paryaṅka, “bed, couch, litter”). Doublet of palki.
palanquin means an enclosed human-borne litter or sedan chair, a large box with a chair, couch, or bed raised on horizontal poles and used as a mode of transport. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 80 out of 100.
palanquin is pronounced /ˌpælənˈkin/.
Why “palanquin” is a great word
PALANQUIN — [Noun] An enclosed litter borne on the shoulders of porters, a mobile chamber of privacy and status, historically prevalent in South and East Asia. From Portuguese *palanquim*, from Odia ପାଲଙ୍କି (pālaṅki, "litter"), ultimately from Sanskrit पर्यङ्क (paryaṅka, "bed, couch, litter"). Unlike a "litter"—a blunt, generic term for a carried vehicle, often open—or a "sedan chair"—its functional European cousin of cramped urban transit—a palanquin suggests a world of intricate social choreography and veiled power. It is the rhythmic creak of lacquered wood and the muffled footfall of bearers on a dusty road; it is a single, screened window offering a sovereign view onto a sweltering bazaar; it is a swaying, self-contained shadow moving through a sun-struck courtyard—a capsule of solitude gliding above the common ground, its occupant forever a passenger and a prisoner of their own station.
noun
- An enclosed human-borne litter or sedan chair, a large box with a chair, couch, or bed raised on horizontal poles and used as a mode of transport.“At the end of two moneths I determined to go for Goa in the companye of two other Portingale Merchants, which were making readye to depart, with two Palanchines or little Litters, which are very commodious for the waye, with eight Falchines which are men hired, to carrie the palanchines, eight for a palanchine, foure at a time...”
- Synonym of litter, any similar vehicle open or closed, human or animal-borne, particularly (historical) in colonial Asian contexts.“... but the cars of chaste women have either coverings thrown over them, or white sheets hung over; for instance, on the cars of the female part of the family of the deceased Nawabs Khanduran and Muzaffar Khan, there used generally to be fastened thick dirty white cloths, and in like manner also on their palanquins—although one brother was the chief treasurer, and the other a commander of seven th”