Swami
Swami in Hinduism is an honorific title given to an ascetic who has chosen the path of renunciation. It is used either before or after the subject's name. An alternative form, swamini, is sometimes used by female renunciates.
The meaning of the Sanskrit root of the word swami is " one with his 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 yogic system or demonstrated profound devotion 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.
In modern Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Swami is also one of the 108 names for a sannyasi 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, the word, while carrying its original meaning, also has the meaning of "husband" in another context. The word also means "husband" in Malay, in which it is spelled suami, and in Khmer, Assamese and Odia. The Thai word for "husband", sami or swami is a cognate word.