(India, Pakistan, Nepal) A non-commissioned officer equivalent to corporal in a corps of Indian, Pakistani or Nepalese soldiers.
1888: Also, he had to keep his temper … especially once when he was abused by a Naik he had himself recruited from Isser Jang village — Rudyard Kipling, ‘Miss Youghal's Sais’, Plain Tales from the Hills (Folio Society 2007, p. 26)