It is unclear where the word "dhole" comes from. The word was first used in English by soldier Thomas Williamson in 1808, who said that "dhole" is a native name for the animal used by people in Ramghur district, India. In 1827, Charles Hamilton Smith said "dhole" comes from a language spoken in 'various parts of the East'. However, Richard Lydekker wrote about 80 years later that the word "dhole" was not used by people living where dholes are found. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary suggests the word comes from the Kannada word tōḷa, meaing "wolf".