Dhoby Ghaut ( ) is a place in
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
that often refers to the
MRT station of the same name, which is a major interchange station on Singapore's
Mass Rapid Transit network connecting the
North-South Line,
North East Line, and the
Circle Line. As a place, Dhoby Ghaut lies along the eastern end of
Orchard Road
Orchard Road, often known colloquially as simply Orchard, is a major -long road in the Central Area, Singapore, Central Area of Singapore. A famous tourist attraction, it is an upscale shopping area, with numerous internationally renowned de ...
. There is a shopping mall above the MRT station called
Plaza Singapura.
Etymology
Dhoby Ghaut was influenced from ''
Dhobi Ghat'', which literally means ''washerman's place'' in
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
, from ''
dhobi
Dhobi known in some places as Dhoba, Rajaka, a Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, scheduled caste in India and the greater Indian subcontinent whose traditional occupations are Clothes washing, washing, ironing, and Farmworker, agricultur ...
'', "washerman" or one that does
laundry
Laundry is the washing of clothing and other textiles, and, more broadly, their drying and ironing as well. Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with this u ...
, and ''
ghat'', referring to a series of steps leading down to a body of water, as in the case of the
Varanasi ghats by the
Ganges
The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...
. The Hindi term ''ghat'' passed into English usage during the
British occupation of India, and was later
anglicised
Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...
to ''
ghaut''.
Around this time, the British had also ruled Singapore, which influenced the naming of this area.
Early history
Until the early 1900s, the ''dhobis'' used water from a clear stream that flowed into ''Sungai Bras Basah'', now Stamford Canal. This stream now exists as a large drain beside Handy Road. The ''ghats'', or steps leading down to the stream, were demolished when ''Sungai Bras Basah'' was canalised. The ''dhobis'' would then dry the laundry at Dhoby Green, the open park bounded by Stamford Road, Handy Road, Bras Basah Road and Prinsep Street.
See also
*
Dhoby Ghaut, Penang, Malaysia
*
Dhobi Ghat, Mumbai, India
References
External links
Reference from National Library of Singapore Infopedia Website
Places in Singapore
Museum Planning Area
Orchard Road
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