The Oxford Dictionary does not define “Indian” on page 789 as “old- fashioned, criminal or illegitimate people”; that viral claim is false and has been debunked by multiple fact-checks.

What the viral claim says

Many social media posts and videos claim that an old Oxford Dictionary (often described as “1900 edition” or “1934 edition”) says on page 789 that:

“Indian” means “poor, old-fashioned, criminal people” or
“children whose parents were not married in a church, illegitimate,” etc.

This is presented as if it were a hidden insult baked into the dictionary.

What checks of the actual dictionary show

Fact-checkers have gone back to the historical Oxford dictionaries that are available online and checked the specific page numbers:

  • In the 1934 Concise Oxford Dictionary, page 789 does not contain “India” or “Indian” at all; it has entries for words starting with other letters (such as “O”).
  • The entries for “India” and “Indian” in that edition are actually found around page 580, not 789.

On those pages:

  • “India” is defined as a country in South Asia, east of the river Indus and south of the Himalayas.
  • “Indian” is defined primarily as:
    • “(native) of India,” and
    • “one of the original inhabitants of America and the West Indies,” with historical explanation that Indigenous Americans were called “Indians” because Columbus mistakenly thought he had reached India/South Asia.

None of the checked Oxford editions define “Indian” as “old-fashioned, criminal, stupid, illegitimate,” etc.

What “Indian” means in modern Oxford usage

Modern Oxford learner/online dictionaries give “Indian” straightforward senses, such as:

  • A person from India or of Indian nationality.
  • (Old-fashioned, sometimes offensive) a member of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, especially North America, with a clear note that “Native American” is preferred.

Again, there is no definition equating “Indian” with criminality, stupidity, or illegitimacy.

So what about “page no 789”?

Putting it together:

  • The specific claim “Oxford Dictionary page no 789 says Indian = old-fashioned, criminal people” is fake.
  • Page 789 either does not contain “Indian” at all or belongs to a volume that only covers words starting with certain letters, not “India/Indian.”
  • Verified copies of old editions show neutral geographic/ethnic definitions, not insults.

If someone shows you a screenshot or WhatsApp forward with that “page 789” meaning, you can safely treat it as misinformation, not a real Oxford definition.

TL;DR:
The correct meaning of “Indian” in Oxford dictionaries is a person from India (or, in older usage, certain Indigenous peoples of the Americas). The story about page 789 calling Indians “old-fashioned, criminal, stupid, illegitimate people” is a debunked hoax, not a real dictionary meaning.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.