guru
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: Borrowed from Hindi गुरु (guru) / Punjabi ਗੁਰੂ (gurū), from Sanskrit गुरु (guru, “venerable, respectable”), originally "heavy" and in this sense cognate to English grieve and, more distantly, brute. Doublet of grave. A traditional, though flawed etymology based on the Advayataraka Upanishad (line 16) describes the syllables gu as “darkness” and ru as “destroyer”, thus ascribing the meaning of “one who destroys/dispels darkness” to the word.
Inflected forms:
form: gurus
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: guru
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: goru
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: gooroo
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: gourou
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: guroo
pos: noun
tags: alternative
archaic
form: gurus
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: guruing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: gurued
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: gurued
pos: verb
tags: past
form: goru
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: gooroo
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: gourou
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: guroo
pos: verb
tags: alternative
archaic
Senses:
gloss: In Indian traditions: a spiritual teacher who transmits knowledge to a shishya.
pos: noun
examples: When the gooroo arrives at the house of a disciple, the whole family prostrate themselves at his feet, and the spiritual guide puts his right foot on the heads of the prostrate family.
The Baiga magicians derive from the old guru who succeeded Nanga Baiga. There is very great confusion about the original guru, and how he was actually related to Nanga Baiga, but there is general agreement that there were originally four great Baiga guru—Daugun, Nindhan, Danantar and Madhakawar, all four brothers.
These guru, third, were responsible for insuring that the populace would not be tempted to support heterodox world renouncers and their counter-patrimonial ideas. In contrast to the pre-classical Brahmin scholars, who serviced only their own and certain ruler and elite religion-social interests, the guru were the patronal guides of the masses, offering prebendal control of the deities through charismatic but morally expounded magic and psychological compensation as personal confessors, in return for popular willingness to conform to the dharmic rules, as interpreted by guru to be sure.
Many of the deities and beliefs recorded by the guru are in fact unknown to the common people, and some represent the esoteric knowledge of only a few guru.
Traditionally, a guru is a spiritual teacher who guides a student on the road to Enlightenment, or finding God.
gloss: Any general teacher (as a term of respect).
pos: noun
tags: India
gloss: An influential advisor or mentor.
pos: noun
tags: humorous
sometimes
examples: Many oenophiles rely on the ratings and recommendations of wine guru Robert Parker when selecting the perfect bottle.
gloss: A fraudster or conman relying on a projected air of confidence in an obscure field.
pos: noun
tags: derogatory
examples: OPCA gurus are modern legal alchemists. They promise gold, but their methods are principally intended to impress the gullible, or those who wish to use this drivel to abuse the court system. Any lack of legal success by the OPCA litigant is, of course, portrayed as a consequence of the customer’s failure to properly understand and apply the guru's special knowledge.
gloss: To act as a guru; to give wise advice
pos: verb
Related words: adi-guru
Bhaiṣajyaguru
gurdwara
Gurmukhi
Guru Granth Sahib
gurukul
satguru
Waheguru
Derived words: antiguru
gurudom
guruhood
guruism
guruji
gurulike
guruship
tech guru
Translations: