A house word whose recorded paths run through Indian languages, with source-scoped dates that do not all agree.
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The cited sources describe separate source relationships, so each possible path is shown independently.
The word bungalow reaches English from Indian languages, and the sources agree on that broad direction while differing in the exact route and dating. Merriam-Webster's entry gives Hindi baṅglā and Urdu banglā, with the literal sense “(house) in the Bengal style,” and records a first-known use of 1676 in the meaning defined. The American Heritage Dictionary prints the etymology “[Hindi baṅglā, Bengali, bungalow.]” without a date; under the dictionary's own etymology key the words after the source form are the entry's gloss, so the cited source is Hindi baṅglā, not a separate Bengali stage. The Online Etymology Dictionary gives a route of Gujarati bangalo from Hindi bangla and dates the English/Anglo-Indian term to the 1670s, but it is a secondary compilation rather than a primary dated quotation. Modern dictionary senses include a one-story house; Merriam-Webster also gives a low-pitched roof, and the American Heritage Dictionary describes veranda and eaves. None of these sources establishes a date, place, or person for any architectural evolution, and none supports calling 1676 the exact origin or treating the word as a coinage.
This page summarizes the cited sources. Follow each source for its full wording, notes and references.
Word-specific details from cited sources, with sources named beside each claim.
All three sources trace bungalow to Indian languages and treat it as a borrowing rather than an English coinage. Merriam-Webster cites Hindi baṅglā and Urdu banglā; the American Heritage Dictionary cites Hindi baṅglā, printed with the gloss “Bengali, bungalow”; the Online Etymology Dictionary cites Gujarati bangalo from Hindi bangla. The shared direction is from Indian languages into English, with the literal sense tied to Bengal.
Merriam-Webster: Hindi baṅglā and Urdu banglā, literal “(house) in the Bengal style.” This is a source entry, not a claim of coinage.
American Heritage Dictionary: Hindi baṅglā, printed etymology “[Hindi baṅglā, Bengali, bungalow.]” with no date given; under the dictionary's own etymology key the comma-separated words after the source form are the entry's gloss, not a Bengali route stage.
Online Etymology Dictionary: Gujarati bangalo from Hindi bangla, with the English/Anglo-Indian term dated to the 1670s. This is a secondary compilation, not a primary dated quotation.
Merriam-Webster records a first-known use of 1676 in the meaning defined. The Online Etymology Dictionary dates the term to the 1670s. The American Heritage Dictionary gives no date. These are source-scoped records, not a single agreed origin, and none of them establishes a date, place, or person for architectural evolution.
Modern dictionary senses include a one-story house. Merriam-Webster also gives a low-pitched roof, and the American Heritage Dictionary describes veranda and eaves. No source here establishes a date, place, or person for any architectural evolution.
This example fits the choosing-words guide because it shows how the same word can carry different source-scoped routes and dates, and why a careful writer should keep those distinctions rather than collapse them into one tidy origin story. Choosing a word that will trace well
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