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Swami (; ; sometimes abbreviated sw.) in Hinduism is an honorific title given to an ascetic who has chosen the Sannyasa ( sanyāsa). (2026). 9780550104113, Chambers Harrap. ISBN 9780550104113. It is used either before or after the subject's name (usually an adopted religious name). An alternative form, swamini (), is sometimes used by female renunciates.
The meaning of the Sanskrit root of the word swami is "he one with his self" (swa stands for "self"), and can roughly be translated as "he/she who knows and is master of himself/herself". The term is often attributed to someone who has achieved mastery of a particular Yoga or demonstrated profound devotion ( bhakti) to one or more Hindu gods. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the etymology as:
As a direct form of address, or as a stand-in for a swami's name, it is often rendered Swamiji (also Swami-ji or Swami Ji).
In modern Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Swami is also one of the 108 names for a sannyasa given in Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati's Gaudiya Kanthahara, along with Goswami, also traditionally used as an honorific title.
Swami is also the surname of the Bairagi caste in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan. In Bengali language, the word (pronounced ), while carrying its original meaning, also has the meaning of "husband" in another context. The word also means "husband" in Malay language, in which it is spelled suami, and in Khmer language, Assamese and Odiya language. The Thai language word for "husband", sami (สามี) or swami (สวามี) is a cognate word.
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