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It’s no hot take to say that the original pundits were highly learned scholars and teachers in India; it’s just a statement of fact. Our English word pundit comes from the Hindi word paṇḍit, a term of respect (and sometimes an honorary title) for a wise person, especially one with knowledge of philosophy, religion, and law; its ultimate source is the Sanskrit word paṇḍita, meaning “learned.” English speakers have used pundit to refer to sages of India since the 1600s, but as is typically done with English, they eventually pushed the word into new semantic territory. By the late 1800s, pundit could also refer to a member of what is sometimes called the commentariat or punditocracy—that is, the collective group of political commentators, financial analysts, and newspaper columnists often paid to share their views on a variety of subjects.
Examples of pundit in a Sentence
Jerel Ezell, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 Aug. 2025
Sports pundit Skip Bayless made a racial claim about NFL teams after Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders had an impressive preseason debut on Friday night.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 11 Aug. 2025
Some pundits say that Biden’s unpopularity ultimately dragged her down.
—Ted Johnson, Deadline, 31 July 2025
And although fans and pundits alike would be quick to dismiss this as just talk, there have been real, concrete examples of change during the early days of training camp.
—Miami Herald, 27 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for pundit
Cite this Entry
“Pundit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pundit. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025.
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