वरिष्ठ

Learned borrowing from Sanskrit वरिष्ठ (váriṣṭha).

• IPA^(key): /ʋə.ɾɪʃʈʰ/

वरिष्ठ • (variṣṭh)

1. senior, higher-ranked

   वरिष्ठ अधिकारी ― variṣṭh adhikārī ― senior officer

   Antonym: कनिष्ठ (kaniṣṭh)

Superlative form of the adjective वर (vára, “precious, desirable”), from Proto-Indo-Aryan *Hwárištʰas, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hwáriṣṭʰas, from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to choose”).

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /ʋɐ́.ɽiʂ.ʈʰɐ/
• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ʋɐˈɽiʂ.ʈʰɐ/

वरिष्ठ • (váriṣṭha)

1. dearest
2. choicest
3. best

• वरिष्ठक (váriṣṭhaka, “most excellent, best”)

Superlative form of the adjective उरु (urú, “broad, wide”), from Proto-Indo-Aryan *Hwárištʰas, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hwáriṣṭʰas, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁wer- (“broad”). Related to वरुण (váruṇa, “Varuna”).

वरिष्ठ • (váriṣṭha)

1. widest
2. most encompassing
3. having the widest circumference

• वरीयस् (várīyas, “better, wider”)

• Monier Williams (1899), “वरिष्ठ”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, […], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, OCLC 458052227, page 921,922,923.