Bangles have adorned South Asian wrists for 4,600 years — the word came to English from Hindi, carrying millennia of cultural meaning about marriage and identity.
A rigid ornamental bracelet or anklet, typically without a clasp. Worn as jewelry or decoration, especially in South Asian cultures.
From Hindi banglī (glass bracelet), from bangṛī (bracelet), ultimately from Sanskrit vaṅkura (bent, curved) or related Prakrit forms Key roots: bangṛī (Hindi: "bracelet, glass bangle"), vaṅkura (Sanskrit: "bent, curved").
Bangles are among the oldest ornaments in human history — archaeological sites at Mohenjo-daro (c. 2600 BCE) have yielded the famous "Dancing Girl" bronze statuette wearing bangles on her left arm. In South Asian culture, bangles carry enormous symbolic weight: married Hindu women traditionally wear glass bangles (churiyan), and