A World of Words: South Asia - Introductory

You don't need a sherpa to guide you through South Asia — just practice this list! Learn all about South Asian countries, including India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. You'll review the physical geography of the subcontinent, agriculture and industrialization, major religions including Hinduism and Buddhism, and much more.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. aftershock
    a tremor following the main tremor of an earthquake
  2. agriculture
    the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock
  3. alluvial plain
    a flat resulting from repeated deposits of alluvial material by running water
  4. animism
    the doctrine that all natural objects have souls
  5. Arabian Sea
    a northwestern arm of the Indian Ocean between India and Arabia
  6. arable
    capable of being farmed productively
  7. archipelago
    a group of many islands in a large body of water
  8. arsenic
    a very poisonous metallic element
  9. atoll
    an island consisting of a coral reef surrounding a lagoon
  10. Bangladesh
    a Muslim republic in southern Asia bordered by India to the north and west and east and the Bay of Bengal to the south; formerly part of India and then part of Pakistan; it achieved independence in 1971
  11. Bay of Bengal
    an arm of the Indian Ocean to the east of India
  12. Bengal tiger
    southern short-haired tiger
  13. Bhutan
    a landlocked principality in the Himalayas to the northeast of India
  14. biodiversity
    the variety of plant and animal life in a habitat
  15. Buddha
    founder of Buddhism; worshipped as a god (c 563-483 BC)
  16. Buddhism
    the teaching of Buddha that life is permeated with suffering caused by desire, that suffering ceases when desire ceases, and that enlightenment obtained through right conduct and wisdom and meditation releases one from desire and suffering and rebirth
  17. buffer state
    a neutral country situated between two rival powers
  18. business district
    the central area or commercial center of a town or city
  19. Calcutta
    the largest city in India and one of the largest cities in the world; located in eastern India; suffers from poverty and overcrowding
  20. cash crop
    a cultivated plant that is grown to be sold for profit
  21. caste
    a hereditary social class among Hindus
  22. Christianity
    a monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as embodied in the New Testament and emphasizing the role of Jesus as savior
  23. cinnamon
    tropical Asian tree with aromatic yellowish-brown bark
  24. civil war
    a war between factions in the same country
  25. clan
    group of people related by blood or marriage
  26. coastal
    of or relating to the shoreline
  27. colonialism
    exploitation by a stronger country of a weaker one
  28. colony
    a geographical area controlled by a distant country
  29. cricket
    a game played with a ball and bat by two teams of 11 players
  30. cyclone
    a violent rotating windstorm
  31. deforestation
    the removal of trees
  32. delta
    a low area of alluvial deposits where a river divides
  33. democratic
    representing or appealing to the people at large
  34. desert
    arid land with little or no vegetation
  35. development
    making some area of land or water more profitable or useful
  36. earthquake
    vibration from underground movement along a fault plane
  37. elephant
    a very large, plant-eating, gray animal with a trunk and floppy ears
  38. elevation
    distance of something above a reference point
  39. enlightenment
    the beatitude that transcends the cycle of reincarnation
  40. erosion
    the process of wearing or grinding something down
  41. estuary
    the wide part of a river where it nears the sea
  42. forestry
    the science of developing and caring for wooded areas
  43. frontier
    an international boundary or the area immediately inside it
  44. Ganges River
    an Asian river
  45. ghat
    stairway in India leading down to a landing on the water
  46. ghee
    clarified butter used in Indian cookery
  47. habitat
    the type of environment in which an organism normally lives
  48. Himalayas
    a mountain range extending 1500 miles on the border between India and Tibet; this range contains the world's highest mountain
  49. Hindi
    the most widely spoken of modern Indic vernaculars
  50. Hinduism
    a body of religious and philosophical beliefs and cultural practices native to India and based on a caste system; it is characterized by a belief in reincarnation, by a belief in a supreme being of many forms and natures, by the view that opposing theories are aspects of one eternal truth, and by a desire for liberation from earthly evils
  51. Hindu Kush
    a mountain range extending to the west of the Himalayas
  52. India
    a republic in the Asian subcontinent in southern Asia
  53. Indian Ocean
    the 3rd largest ocean
  54. Indus River
    an Asian river that rises in Tibet and flows through northern India and then southwest through Kashmir and Pakistan to the Arabian Sea
  55. industrialization
    the development of commercial enterprise
  56. infrastructure
    basic facilities needed for the functioning of a country
  57. invader
    someone who enters by force in order to conquer
  58. Islam
    the monotheistic religious system of Muslims
  59. Islamabad
    the capital of Pakistan in the north on a plateau
  60. karma
    effects of one's actions that determine his or her destiny
  61. Kashmir
    an area in southwestern Asia whose sovereignty is disputed between Pakistan and India
  62. Khyber Pass
    a mountain pass of great strategic and commercial value in the Hindu Kush on the border between northern Pakistan and western Afghanistan; a route by which invaders entered India
  63. kingdom
    the domain ruled by a monarch
  64. Kolkata
    the largest city in India and one of the largest cities in the world; located in eastern India; suffers from poverty and overcrowding
  65. landlocked
    surrounded entirely or almost entirely by land
  66. literacy
    the ability to read and write
  67. livestock
    any animals kept for use or profit
  68. lowland
    low level country
  69. maharajah
    a great raja
  70. Mahatma Gandhi
    political and spiritual leader during India's struggle with Great Britain for home rule; an advocate of passive resistance (1869-1948)
  71. Maldives
    a republic on the Maldive Islands
  72. meditation
    contemplation of spiritual matters
  73. migration
    the movement of persons from one locality to another
  74. Mogul
    a member of the Muslim dynasty that ruled India until 1857
  75. monarchy
    autocracy governed by a ruler who usually inherits authority
  76. monastery
    the residence of a religious community
  77. monotheism
    belief in a single God
  78. monsoon
    a seasonal wind in southern Asia
  79. mountainous
    containing many mountains
  80. Mt. Everest
    a mountain in the central Himalayas on the border of Tibet and Nepal; the highest mountain peak in the world (29,028 feet high)
  81. Mumbai
    a city in western India just off the coast of the Arabian Sea; India's 2nd largest city (after Calcutta); has the only natural deep-water harbor in western India
  82. Muslim
    a believer in or follower of Islam
  83. Nepal
    a small landlocked Asian country high in the Himalayas between India and China
  84. New Delhi
    the capital of India is a division of the old city of Delhi
  85. nirvana
    the beatitude that transcends the cycle of reincarnation
  86. nonviolence
    peaceful resistance to a government
  87. oxbow lake
    a crescent-shaped lake (often temporary) that is formed when a meander of a river is cut off from the main channel
  88. Pakistan
    a Muslim republic that occupies the heartland of ancient south Asian civilization in the Indus River valley; formerly part of India; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1947
  89. parliament
    a legislative assembly in certain countries
  90. partition
    divide into parts, pieces, or sections
  91. passive resistance
    peaceful resistance to a government by fasting or refusing to cooperate
  92. pilgrimage
    a journey to a sacred place
  93. plain
    simple
  94. plateau
    a relatively flat raised area of land
  95. pollutant
    waste matter that contaminates the water, air, or soil
  96. polytheism
    belief in multiple gods
  97. population
    the people who inhabit a territory or state
  98. population growth
    increase in the number of people who inhabit a territory or state
  99. poverty
    the state of having little or no money and possessions
  100. reincarnation
    the doctrine that a person may be reborn successively
  101. republic
    a political system in which power lies in a body of citizens
  102. runoff
    the occurrence of surplus liquid exceeding capacity
  103. rural
    of or relating to the countryside as opposed to the city
  104. Sanskrit
    an ancient language of India
  105. sea level
    level of the ocean's surface
  106. secular
    not concerned with or devoted to religion
  107. sediment
    matter that has been deposited by some natural process
  108. senate
    assembly possessing high legislative powers
  109. sharia
    the code of religious law derived from the Quran
  110. Sherpa
    a member of the Himalayan people living in Nepal and Tibet who are famous for their skill as mountaineers
  111. Sikhism
    the doctrines of a monotheistic religion founded in northern India in the 16th century by Guru Nanak and combining elements of Hinduism and Islam
  112. Sri Lanka
    a republic on the island of Ceylon
  113. subcontinent
    a large, distinct landmass that is part of a larger landmass
  114. subsistence farming
    farming that provides for the basic needs of the farmer without surpluses for marketing
  115. Taj Mahal
    beautiful mausoleum at Agra built by the Mogul emperor Shah Jahan (completed in 1649) in memory of his favorite wife
  116. temple
    a place of worship
  117. territory
    a region marked off for administrative or other purposes
  118. tourism
    the business of providing services to travelers for pleasure
  119. trade
    the commercial exchange of goods and services
  120. tributary
    a branch that flows into the main stream
  121. tropical
    relating to part of the Earth's surface with hot climate
  122. untouchable
    not capable of being obtained
  123. Urdu
    the official literary language of Pakistan, closely related to Hindi; widely used in India (mostly by Moslems); written in Arabic script
  124. water pollution
    pollution of the water in rivers and lakes
  125. yoga
    discipline training the consciousness for spiritual insight
Created on Mon Feb 27 11:37:40 EST 2017 (updated Fri Mar 31 11:50:05 EDT 2017)

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