A Glossary of Key Sikh Terms

Why a Shared Vocabulary Matters

Sikh teaching has its own working vocabulary, much of it in Punjabi and written in Gurmukhi. A handful of these terms appear again and again in Gurbani, in conversation at the Gurdwara, and in scholarship. If you know them well, the tradition opens up; if you do not, even simple sentences can feel closed. The goal of this glossary is plain: give you accurate, mainstream definitions of the most important terms, paired with the Gurmukhi so you can recognize them on the page and in speech (Cole and Sambhi 1990).

How to Read an Entry

Every lesson in this course is built around a reference table. The left column gives the term in Gurmukhi with a simple transliteration; the right column gives a clear definition. Read across the row, and where a definition uses another key term, you can look that one up too. The five content lessons that follow group the terms by theme rather than alphabet, because the words make most sense in the company of their relatives.

One note on accuracy: definitions here follow mainstream Sikh scholarship and reference works, and the course avoids inventing page numbers, quotations, or dates (Singh and Fenech 2014).

One Reality, Many Names

Sikhi is firmly monotheistic: there is one God, beyond birth and death, present in all creation yet beyond it. The tradition uses several terms to speak of this One, each with its own emphasis. The most important is the very first thing written in Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the symbol and phrase ੴ / ਇੱਕ ਓਅੰਕਾਰ, Ik Onkar (Cole and Sambhi 1990).

These terms fit together: Ik Onkar names the one Reality, Akal Purakh and Nirankar describe its nature, Waheguru is the name a Sikh lovingly remembers, and Hukam is the order through which that One acts in the world. Grace, Nadar, is what makes the whole relationship possible (Singh and Fenech 2014).

The Word and the Guru

For Sikhs, the word "Guru" carries a precise meaning. It points first to the Divine itself as the true teacher, then to the ten human Gurus from Guru Nanak to Guru Gobind Singh, and finally to the scripture, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, which Guru Gobind Singh declared the eternal Guru. Understanding this vocabulary keeps these senses clear (Cole and Sambhi 1990; McLeod 1997).

Two distinctions help newcomers. First, Gurbani is the content (the words), while Shabad can mean both a particular hymn and the divine Word in general. Second, calling a page an Ang, a limb, signals that Sikhs treat the scripture not as a book about the Guru but as the Guru present (Singh and Fenech 2014).

What a Sikh Does

Sikh spirituality is practical: it is meant to be lived, not only believed. Three terms sit at its center. Naam is the Name of God a Sikh keeps in mind; Simran is the act of remembering it; and Seva is the selfless service that flows from a heart turned toward the Divine. Guru Nanak summed up the ideal as remembering God, earning an honest living, and sharing with others (Cole and Sambhi 1990).

Read the last three rows together: Naam Japna, Kirat Karni, and Vand Chhakna are often called the three pillars of Sikh living. They keep spiritual life and ordinary life joined, so that remembrance, work, and sharing are parts of one path rather than separate compartments (Singh and Fenech 2014).

The Body of Sikhs

Sikhi is lived in company. Its institutions are designed to teach equality and service in concrete ways: sitting together to listen, sitting together to eat, and joining a disciplined community open to all. The vocabulary below names the gathering, the meal, the place, and the order of initiated Sikhs (Cole and Sambhi 1990; McLeod 1997).

Notice how Sangat and Pangat rhyme in sound and in meaning: the first is the community at worship, the second the same community at the shared meal, both arranged so no one sits higher than anyone else. The Khalsa, entered through Amrit Sanchar, gives that community a disciplined and visible form within the wider Panth (Singh and Fenech 2014).

The Moral Life in Words

Gurmat ethics has a clear vocabulary of what to overcome and what to cultivate. The tradition names five inner forces, the panj chor or "five thieves," that pull a person away from the Divine, and a set of virtues that, with grace and remembrance, take their place. Knowing these terms lets you follow the moral teaching of Gurbani directly (Cole and Sambhi 1990).

The list works as a pair of columns in the mind: against Kaam, Krodh, Lobh, Moh, and Hankaar, the Gurus place virtues such as humility (Nimrata), contentment (Santokh), compassion, truth, and love. Underneath the five vices lies Haumai, the self-centered "I," which Sikh teaching treats as the central obstacle that Naam and Seva gradually melt away (Singh and Fenech 2014).