The word "Dougla" originated from doogala (), which is a Caribbean Hindustani word that may mean "many", "much" or "a mix". Some of the connotations of the word such as bastard, illegitimate and son of a whore are secondary and limited to sections of North India where the term may have originated. In the West Indies, the word is used only for Afro-Indo mixed race, despite its origin as a word used to describe inter-caste mixing. The word has its etymological roots in the Hindi, where "do" means two and "gala" means "throat". The word might have been used as a way to refer to people who could speak Indian and African languages.