Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun In Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism, a personal spiritual teacher.
  • noun Any of the ten successive spiritual teachers who developed Sikhism between the 16th and 18th centuries.
  • noun A trusted counselor and adviser; a mentor.
  • noun A popular or influential leader or advocate, as of a movement or idea.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A Hindu spiritual teacher or guide. Also written gooroo.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Same as gooroo.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun each of the first ten leaders of the Sikh religion
  • noun a recognized leader in some field or of some movement
  • noun a Hindu or Buddhist religious leader and spiritual teacher

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Hindi guru, from Sanskrit guruḥ, from guru-, heavy; see gwerə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hindi गुरू (guru) / Urdu گرو (guru), from Sanskrit गुरु (gurú, "venerable, respectable"), originally "heavy" and in this sense cognate to English grieve. (A traditional etymology based on the Advaya Taraka Upanishad (line 16) describes the syllables gu as 'darkness' and ru as 'destroyer', thus meaning "one who destroys/dispels darkness")

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word guru.

Examples

  • Of course, you can still use the word guru to refer to an “actual” guru, say the Indian spiritual leader behind your favorite yoga technique.

    The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010

  • Of course, you can still use the word guru to refer to an “actual” guru, say the Indian spiritual leader behind your favorite yoga technique.

    The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010

  • We've all heard of the term guru, and while it's gotten misconstrued and possibly watered down into a layman's term lately, the original meaning of guru was simple -- one who helped to remove darkness in order to reveal the light.

    Alanna Kaivalya: 3 Qualifications of a Yoga Teacher Alanna Kaivalya 2012

  • We've all heard of the term guru, and while it's gotten misconstrued and possibly watered down into a layman's term lately, the original meaning of guru was simple -- one who helped to remove darkness in order to reveal the light.

    Alanna Kaivalya: 3 Qualifications of a Yoga Teacher Alanna Kaivalya 2012

  • We've all heard of the term guru, and while it's gotten misconstrued and possibly watered down into a layman's term lately, the original meaning of guru was simple -- one who helped to remove darkness in order to reveal the light.

    Alanna Kaivalya: 3 Qualifications of a Yoga Teacher Alanna Kaivalya 2012

  • The word guru in gurukula is often mistakenly thought of as a charismatic cult leader wearing flowing robes with total control over his followers.

    Spiritual Teachings of the Avatar Jeffrey Armstrong 2010

  • The word guru in gurukula is often mistakenly thought of as a charismatic cult leader wearing flowing robes with total control over his followers.

    Spiritual Teachings of the Avatar Jeffrey Armstrong 2010

  • The word guru in gurukula is often mistakenly thought of as a charismatic cult leader wearing flowing robes with total control over his followers.

    Spiritual Teachings of the Avatar Jeffrey Armstrong 2010

  • We use the word guru for whoever is pleased by a students practice and does not give even the slightest consideration to material gifts.

    Becoming Enlightened Dalai Lama 2009

  • We use the word guru for whoever is pleased by a students practice and does not give even the slightest consideration to material gifts.

    Becoming Enlightened Dalai Lama 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.