gymkhana: [19] The British brought the word gymkhana back with them from India, where they found it as Hindi gendkhāna, literally ‘ballhouse’, the name given to a racket court. The first syllable gym- is generally assumed to be an alteration of gend- on the analogy of gymnasium. The term was originally used for a ‘sports ground’; the current sense ‘horse-riding contest’ seems to have developed after World War I. [gymkhana etymology, gymkhana origin, 英语词源]