Namaste Origin: Where Does Namaste Come From and What Does It Mean?

Namaste comes from Sanskrit and literally means a bow to you. It joins namas, a bow or act of respect, with te, a form of the word you. It is a respectful greeting said with palms pressed together and a slight bow, used traditionally by Hindus in South Asia.

How to say it: /ˈnʌməsteɪ/ (noun · interjection)

Key points

Namaste is Sanskrit for a bow to you.
Namas means bow or respect, and te means to you.
The palms together gesture is called anjali mudra.
English records the word from 1948.

What namaste means

Namaste is a respectful greeting from South Asia. Merriam-Webster describes it as a greeting made by placing the palms together, bowing the head slightly and saying namaste, used traditionally by Hindus in South Asia. People say it when they meet and when they part. It shows respect and warmth without a handshake, and it works for elders, guests and strangers alike.

Where namaste comes from: namas and te

The origin of namaste is Sanskrit, the classical language of ancient India. Merriam-Webster explains that it is a borrowing from Sanskrit meaning a bow to you. The word has two parts. Namas means bow or obeisance, an act of respect. Te is a short form of the pronoun you, used in the sense of to you. Put together, namaste means a bow to you.

Namas itself comes from a verb meaning to bend or to bow. Merriam-Webster traces that verb to an old Indo-European base nem, to bow or bend.

Part	Sanskrit	Meaning
namas	noun	bow, obeisance, respect
te	pronoun form	to you
namaste	greeting	a bow to you

The gesture behind the word

The spoken word usually comes with a gesture. The hands are pressed palm to palm in front of the chest, the fingers point up and the head bows a little. In Sanskrit this gesture is called anjali mudra. Britannica describes it as joining the two hands palm to palm in a gesture of respectful adoration, comparable to the Western gesture of prayer.

In India the gesture and the word often go together, but either can be used alone. A nod with joined hands across a noisy room still says namaste.

How namaste spread into English

Namaste lived in South Asian languages for centuries before English borrowed it. Merriam-Webster gives 1948 as its first known use in English. Over the following decades travel, Indian communities abroad and the rise of yoga in the West made it familiar to many English speakers. Today it appears in English dictionaries as a noun and is often used like an interjection.

Period	Where	How the word was used
Ancient times	Sanskrit	namas te, a bow to you
Centuries of use	Hindi, Nepali and other languages	an everyday respectful greeting
1948	English	first known use in English writing
Today	yoga classes in the West	a closing word of thanks and respect

Namaste has close relatives in South Asian languages. They share the root namas and the idea of bowing with respect. Some people treat them as the same, but they are built a little differently. If you enjoy tracing roots like this, the history of the word magic shows another ancient word that traveled a long way.

Word	Built from	Meaning
namaste	namas + te	a bow to you
namaskar	namas + kara, action	the act of bowing in greeting
namah	namas	bow, respect

Namaste in yoga and everyday use

Many English speakers first hear namaste at the end of a yoga class. The teacher joins the hands, bows slightly and says namaste, and the class answers the same way. Here it works as a thank you and a sign of mutual respect. In India and Nepal it stays an ordinary greeting for daily life, used at home, at work and in shops.

She greeted her grandmother with a warm namaste.
The class ended with a quiet namaste.
He answered with joined hands and a small bow.

Common mistakes about namaste

Because namaste spread so fast in the West, a few misunderstandings travel with it. Most come from using it only as a yoga word and forgetting its roots. Being aware of them is a simple way to show respect for the culture the word comes from. Here are the most common mistakes people make.

Treating it only as a yoga word. It is first a greeting used in daily life by millions of people.
Thinking it means goodbye only. It works as hello and goodbye.
Taking the long spiritual translation as the literal one. The literal meaning is a bow to you.
Using it as a joke or a brand slogan. Many people find that careless with a respectful word.

Words often hide a feeling in their roots. The word anxiety comes from a Latin verb for choking, which says a lot about how worry feels.

Questions people ask

What does namaste mean literally?

It means a bow to you. Namas is a bow or act of respect, and te is a form of the pronoun you, so together they mean I bow to you.

What language does namaste come from?

It comes from Sanskrit, the classical language of ancient India. It is used today in Hindi, Nepali and other South Asian languages.

When did namaste enter English?

Merriam-Webster dates the first known use of namaste in English to 1948.

What is the namaste hand gesture called?

It is called anjali mudra. Britannica describes it as joining the two hands palm to palm in a gesture of respect, much like hands held in prayer.

Why do yoga classes end with namaste?

Many teachers in the West use it as a closing thank you and a sign of respect to the class. It is often said with hands together and a small bow.

What is the difference between namaste and namaskar?

Both are respectful greetings with the same root namas. Namaskar comes from namaskara, an act of bowing, while namaste is addressed directly to you.

Does namaste mean the divine in me bows to the divine in you?

That is a popular loose translation, especially in yoga. Dictionaries give the literal meaning as a bow to you.

Sources

We checked this page against these references. The examples were written by our editors.

Namaste Origin and Meaning: A Bow to You in Sanskrit